«Htf-:  ::•v 


THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 


BY    THE  SAME   AUTHOR. 

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LONGMANS,   GREEN   AND   CO. 

NEW  YORK,  LONDON,  BOMBAY,  CALCUTTA,  AND  MADRAS, 


'They  all  started  in  hi^h  spirits." 


[see  page  14 


THE  BOOK   OF 
THE   LONG  TRAIL 


BY 

HENRY   NEWBOLT 

AUTHOE  OF   'SUBMAKINE   AND    ANTI-SUBMAKIXE,'  'TALES  OF  THE  QRiAT  WAR,'  EIO. 


WITH  A  COLOURED  FRONTISPIECE  AND 

THIRTY  OTHER  ILLUSTRATIONS 

BY  STANLEY  L.  WOOD. 


LONGMANS,    GREEN    AND    CO 

FOURIH  AVENUE  &  30th  STREET,  NEW  YORK 

39     PATERNOSTER     ROW,     LONDON 
BOMBAY,  CALCTDTTA,  AND  MADRAS 

1919 


/ 


/Vf; 


IINTEODUCTION 

A   LETTER   TO   A    BOY 

My  dear  a., — Here  is  another  book  for  you,  and  for 
your  sisters  too,  if  they  will  so  far  honour  me.  The 
first  thing  you  will  notice  about  it  is  that  it  is  not,  as 
the  other  five  have  been,  about  war.  That  may  dis- 
appoint you,  or  it  may  not :  it  would  have  disappointed 
me  when  I  was  your  age — I  loved  no  stories  so  well 
as  stories  of  war. 

Why  then  do  I  give  them  up  ?  Because,  though 
I  have  not  changed,  war  has  changed.  It  still  shows 
the  finest  qualities  of  men — it  shows  them  leaving 
everything  they  love  best  in  the  world,  facing  dangers 
and  enduring  hardships,  matching  their  courage  and 
skill  against  those  of  the  other  side,  overcoming 
difficulties  by  land  and  sea,  and  all  this  for  an  idea, 
the  love  of  their  country  and  that  for  which  their 
country  is  fighting,  the  honour  and  welfare  of  mankind. 
.But  unfortunately  this  is  not  all  that  war  does  :  it  also 
shows  men  at  their  worst.  I  am  not  now  speaking 
of  the  unheard-of  barbarities  committed  by  one  side 
in  the  late  war  :  I  am  speaking  of  certain  things  done 
by  both  sides,  and  quite  fair  according  to  the  rules 
of  war,  in  fact  unavoidable  if  you  are  to  fight  at  all 
under  modern  conditions  :    millions  of  men  killed  or 


vi  INTRODUCTION 

mutilated,  millions  of  homes  made  desolate,  houses 
and  churches,  roads  and  bridges,  orchards,  pastures, 
and  plough-lands  turned  to  mud  and  dust-heaps — in 
a  word,  the  life  of  the  world  made  hideous  for  years, 
with  the  survivors  glaring  at  each  other  across  the 
ruins. 

This,  as  you  know,  was  not  always  so  :  nations  used 
to  fight  by  teams,  as  schools  do — a  small  picked  army 
on  this  side  against  a  small  picked  army  on  that.  Even 
then  they  did  a  lot  of  damage  and  caused  a  lot  of 
misery  ;  but  the  case  is  a  thousand  times  worse  now. 
Now  the  whole  population  of  each  country  goes  to 
war,  the  whole  world  is  involved,  and  the  nations 
fight  desperately  because  they  fight  for  their  existence 
— world-power  or  downfall — and  they  feel  that  they 
must  hack  their  way  through  and  stick  at  nothing  to 
save  themselves.  Do  you  think  that  this  kind  of  fighting 
can  go  on  ?  One  such  war  has  brought  the  world  to 
the  brink  of  ruin  and  starvation  :  what  would  another 
leave  us  ?  Can  you  imagine  what  would  become  of 
your  school  life  if  in  a  football  match  the  whole  of 
both  schools  played  in  one  big  scrimmage,  and  a  hundred 
boys  were  killed  on  each  side  and  a  hundred  injured 
for  life,  and  both  sides  always  joined  in  burning  down 
the  buildings  of  the  school  on  whose  ground  the  game 
was  played  ?  But  that  would  be  very  much  less  cruel 
and  absurd  than  modern  war. 

War  then  must  stop,  and  you  will,  I  hope,  have  no 
more  stories  of  new  wars.  But  you  may  have  good 
stories  for  all  that — stories  of  the  same  races  showing 
the  same  fine  qualities,  setting  the  same  endurance 
and  courage  and  skill  against  difficulties  and  dangers, 
upholding  the  honour  of  their  country  too,  and  further- 


INTRODUCTION  vii 

ing  the  welfare  of  all  mankind  instead  of  saving  part 
at  the  expense  of  the  rest. 

I  daresay  you  will  not  agree  to  this  right  off :  you 
know  what  you  want  in  a  story,  you  have  always  got 
it  in  stories  of  war,  and  you  can  hardly  believe  you 
will  find  it  anywhere  else.  Well,  let  us  consider  what 
it  is  that  you,  and  I,  have  always  wanted  and  found 
in  stories  of  war.  Is  it  an  account  of  the  wounds  and 
miseries  our  side  have  inflicted  on  the  other  side,  or 
of  the  sufferings  of  non-combatants  or  our  own  people 
at  home  ?  No,  in  our  stories  we  have  always  had  to 
leave  out  that  kind  of  detail ;  we  wanted  to  forget 
the  cruel  and  wasteful  part,  and  think  only  of  three 
things — first  the  contest,  the  struggle  against  odds  and 
obstacles,  second  the  moments  of  special  daring  or 
success,  and  third  and  best  of  all,  the  men  who  were 
the  heroes  of  these  struggles  and  great  moments. 
What  did  they  do,  what  were  they  like,  how  did  they 
feel,  how  did  they  come  to  be  what  they  were,  great 
men  for  their  country,  loved  and  honoured  in  their 
own  generation  and  famous  for  long  afterwards? 

Now  if  these  are  really,  as  I  believe  they  are,  the 
points  we  looked  for  in  our  war  stories,  we  can  have 
them  in  plenty  without  going  to  the  wars  for  them. 
You  will  find  them  all  in  this  book  :  even  if  you  should 
think  it  less  well  arranged  or  less  well  written  than  you 
could  wish,  still  that  is  only  the  writer's  fault — the 
right  stuff  is  there  none  the  less,  the  stuff  that  we 
all  want  and  can  never  do  without.  Where  will  you 
look  for  finer  men  than  these,  or  for  more  honourable 
enterprises  than  those  they  undertook,  or  greater 
dangers  and  sufferings  than  theirs,  or  moments  more 
full  of  daring  and  excitement  ?     Every  one  of  them 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

was  in  truth  an  army  commander,  though  the  army 
was  only  a  handful  of  men  and  was  never  out  to  kill. 
What  territories  they  invaded,  these  explorers,  what 
campaigns  they  made,  what  forced  marches,  what 
flanking  movements  :  how  they  managed  their  trans- 
port and  commissariat,  what  risks  they  took,  what 
casualties  they  suffered,  how  they  supported  each 
other,  and,  when  disaster  came,  what  lonely  and  un- 
defeated deaths  they  died.  If  any  men  were  ever 
worth  your  knowing,  these  are  they  :  and  if  you  once 
get  to  know  them,  first  here  and  then  more  intimately 
in  their  own  records,  you  will  have  nine  men  to  remem- 
ber and  admire  all  your  life  :  and  no  possession  can 
be  greater  than  that. 

There  is  one  more  point.  Travel  and  exploration 
are  not  only  as  interesting  as  war  in  the  ways  I  have 
mentioned  :  they  have  also  another  set  of  characters 
and  experiences  which  are  entirely  their  own.  The 
explorer  often  has  enemies,  but  he  cannot  simply 
shoot  them  down — he  must  conciliate  or  outwit  them 
without  fighting.  This  is  more  dangerous,  and  more 
exciting — think  of  Burton,  disguised  for  months  and 
in  danger  of  his  life  every  hour  of  every  day  :  or 
of  Younghusband  riding  unarmed  into  the  Tibetan 
camp,  and  again  through  the  streets  of  the  Forbidden 
City,  swarming  with  fierce  and  hostile  monks.  Then 
there  is  often  sheer  starvation  to  be  faced  :  hunting 
to  be  done  not  for  sport  or  exercise,  but  for  the  next 
meal :  friends  to  be  backed  or  rescued  at  all  costs  : 
natives  to  be  traded  with,  trusted,  or  guarded  against. 
Perhaps  in  the  true  explorer's  story  the  natives  are 
even  more  interesting  than  the  countries  they  live  in. 
In  this  book  some  of  them  belong  to  the  ancient  races 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

of  the  East,  and  can  only  be  understood  by  a  Young- 
husband  or  a  Burton  :  others  are  just  wild  children — 
Burke  and  Wills,  Livingstone  and  Stanley  all  knew 
how  to  get  the  best  out  of  these  :  others  again  live 
an  ordered  but  very  primitive  kind  of  life,  like  the 
Red  Indians  who  were  so  good  to  Franklin,  and  the 
men  of  the  Stone  Age  whom  Wollaston  describes. 
Some  among  them  even  have  names,  and  stand  out 
as  curious  and  delightful  people.  Who  would  not 
wish  to  have  known  Akaitcho  and  Augustus,  Liu- 
san  and  Wall,  the  Tongsa  Penlop  and  the  Ti  Rimpoche  ? 
Who  would  not  long  for  such  days  of  romance  as  that 
on  which  Wollaston  and  his  companions  at  last  found 
their  way  through  the  forest  labyrinth  and  stood  in 
the  pygmy  village  :  or  that  on  which  the  boy  of  twenty- 
four  started  alone  across  the  vast  Mongolian  plain 
in  the  first  freshness  of  an  April  morning  ?  Perhaps 
the  start  is  the  best  part  of  a  journey  :  it  is  fine  to 
reach  your  goal,  and  to  come  home  in  triumph  ;  but 
finest,  I  suspect,  to  be  just  going  across  the  threshold. 
'How  much  better,'  as  Scott  said  at  the  end,  'than 
lounging  in  too  great  comfort  at  home.' 

I  have  said  little  or  nothing  of  Scott :  I  have  been 
allowed  to  tell  his  story  mainly  in  his  own  words,  and 
I  would  not  add  to  them  if  I  could.  If  you  do  not 
love  him  and  Wilson  and  Bowers  and  Gates,  then  this 
book  can  be  of  no  use  to  you.  But  I  think  I  know 
you  better. 

Yours  ever, 

HENRY  NEWBOLT. 


CONTENTS 


I.    JOHN  FRANKLIN 

SECTION 

1.  The  Traveller  Born 

2.  The  Expedition  to  the  North-Vv^est 

3.  Driven  into  Winter  Quarters 

4.  Overland  to  the  Polar  Sea  . 

5.  The  Barren  Grounds 

6.  Red  Men,  Best  and  Worst     . 


TAQB 
1 

4 
13 
18 
24 
31 


II.     RICHARD  BURTON 


1.  Ruffian  Dick  .... 

2.  The  Voyage  of  '  The  Golden  Thread  ' 

3.  Caravanning  in  the  Hijaz 

4.  August  in  Al-Madinah    . 

5.  By  the  Road  of  Harun-al-Rasiiid 

6.  Holy  Week  at  Meccah  . 


40 
50 
58 
67 

76 

87 


III.     DAVID  LIVINGSTONE 


1.  The  Youth  of  an  Apostle 

2.  From  Linyanti  to  Loanda 

3.  Fighting  the  Slave  Traders 

4.  Lost  to  the  World 


95 

98 
107 
112 


IV.     HENRY  STANLEY 


1.  The  Meaning  of  a  Name 

2.  The  Adventures  of  a  Journalist 
8.  The  Finding  of  Livingstone  . 

4.  The  Breaker  of  Rocks  . 


122 
129 
138 
144 


Xll 


CONTENTS 


BURKE  AND  WILLS 


SECnON 

1.  Australia  from  Sea  to  Sea 

2.  White  Man  and  Black  Man 

3.  The  Last  March 


PAQB 

152 
160 
164 


VI.     FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND 


1.  A  Boy's  Will 

2.  Through  the  Great  Wall 

3.  Across  the  Great  Desert  of 

4.  To  Kashgar  and  Yarkand 

5.  The  Mustagh  Pass 

6.  The  Mission  to  Tibet 

7.  The  Road  to  Lhasa 

8.  In  the  Forbidden  City 

9.  A  Letter  to  Lhasa 


Gobi 


176 
181 
186 
194 
202 
207 
212 
221 
228 


VII.     ROBERT  SCOTT 


1.  Twice  to  the  Antarctic 

2.  The  Tale  of  Ten  Ponies 

3.  At  the  South  Pole 

4.  The  Race  for  Life 

5.  The  Last  March 


232 
238 
246 
256 
260 


VIII.     ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON 


1.  The  Mountains  of  the  Moon 

2.  The  Journey  Out    .... 

3.  The  Conquest  of  Ruwenzori 

4.  The  Largest  Island  in  the  World 

5.  Back  in  the  Stone  Age 

6.  The  Pygmies    ..... 

7.  Jungle-Bound  .... 


269 
273 

277 
286 
290 
300 
307 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

*  He  himself,  with  Back  and  John  Hepburn,  started  ahead '  7 
'  They  smoked  the  calumet  with  him  '  .  .  .  .9 
'  A  big  buffalo  plunged  into  the  river  '  .  .  .  .11 
'  Akaitcho  alone  kept  his  head,  and  shot  the  beast  dead ' .  23 
'  Crooked-Foot  further  distinguished  himself  by  catching 

four  large  trout '      .  .  .  .  .  ,  .37 

'  One  of  the  Englishmen  swore  at  the  Darwaysh  '    .  .45 

'  He  became  Instead  a  Pathan  '        .  .  .  .  .47 

'  This    curtained    wicker    erection,    called    a    Shugduf,    is 

strapped  on  to  the  dromedary's  back  '       .  .  .59 

'  Fired  down  on  to  the  caravan  from  their  impregnable 

positions '........        65 

'  The  boy  Mohammed  had  procured  for  him  a  Meccan 

dromedary  with  a  magnificent  saddle  '       .  .  .73 

'  This  he  navigated  ^vith  a  flotilla  of  canoes  '    .  .  .     100 

'  His  people  crowded  round  Livingstone,  threatening  him 

with  their  weapons  '......     103 

'  "  A  boy,"  replied  the  gentleman  slowly.     "  No,  I  don't 

think  I  want  one "  '  .  .  .  .  .  .      125 

'  Fired  a  few  volleys  into  the  village,  and  then  charged  '  .  135 
'  Taking  it  in  turns  to  ride  the  two  remaining  camels '       .     159 

*  Wavering  branches,  and  jabbering  very  excitedly  '  .163 
'  He  passed  through  the  inner  branch  of  the  Great  Wall '.     185 

*  Ma-te-la  had  to  walk,  leading  the  first  camel '  .  .188 
'  Liu-san  showed  the  revolver  to  everyone  he  met'  .  .  190 
'  Saved  by  clutching  the  rope  as  he  slid  past '            .          .     205 

*  The  troops  fired  in  reply '     .         .         .         .         .         .217 


xiv  ILLUSTRATIONS 

'  The  Tibetans  then  sent  in  an  enormous  flag  of  truce  ' 

'  The  ponies  mostly  arrived  very  tired  '    . 

'  The  two  remaining  sledge  parties  went  ahead  very  well' 

'  They  found  it  was  a  black  flag  tied  to  a  sledge  bearer ' 

'  Scott  reached  him  first '..... 

'  The  Papuan  looked  a  gentleman  in  his  own  skin  '  . 

'  In  the  canoes,  in  each  of  which  two  or  three  dogs  may 

commonly  be  seen  '  ..... 

'  Sitting  outside  his  hut  sharpening  an  axe  ' 
'  They  had  crossed  on  this  shaky  bridge  ' 


PAGE 

219 
241 
249 
255 
261 
293 

297 
299 
311 


NOTE. 

This  volume  is  intended  to  serve  as  an  introduction  to  the 
following  books.  In  the  case  of  several  which  are  copyright, 
the  author  desires  to  express  his  grateful  thanks  for  permission 
to  quote  freely. 

'  Journey  to  the  Shores  of  the  Polar  Sea.'     By  John  P'ranklin, 

Capt.  R.N.     (Murray.) 
'  Pilgrimage    to    Al-Madinah    and    Meccah.'     By    Sir    Richard 

Burton.     (Dent.) 
'  Personal    Life    of   David    Livingstone.'     By    W.    G.    Blaikie. 

I  (Murray.) 
'  Autobiography  of  Sir  Henry  M.  Stanley.'     Edited  by  Dorothy 

Lady  Stanley. 
'  R.  O'Hara  Burke  and  the   Australian  Exploring  Expedition.' 

By  Andrew  Jackson. 
'  The  Heart  of  a  Continent '  :  and  '  India  and  Tibet.'     By  Sir 

Francis  Younghusband.     (Murray.) 
'  Scott's  Last  Journal.'     Edited  by  L.  Huxley. 
'  From  Ruwenzori  to  the  Congo  '  :    and  '  Pygmies  and  Papuans.* 

By  A.  F.  R.  WoUaston.     (Murray.) 


'  Then  as  he  went  his  eyes  also  were  lightened,  and  he  saw 
the  world  anew.  For  he  perceived  how  that  the  beauty  of  it 
was  of  no  fading  excellence,  but  only  by  long  time  forgotten  : 
and  belike  remembered  again  and  again  forgotten  many  times, 
according  as  men  made  clean  their  hearts  or  darkened  them.' 

*  And  now  he  saw  that  land  after  another  fasliion  :  for  he 
saw  it  as  a  strange  and  awful  land,  and  the  folk  of  it  as  a  folk 
beset  with  fearful  things,  yet  fearing  nought,  as  men  in  the  hollow 
of  God's  hand.  And  as  folk  loving  and  beloved  he  saw  them, 
and  strong  and  uncomplaining  and  compassionate,  yet  also  work- 
ing wild  deeds,  after  the  manner  of  men.' 

AXADORE, 


THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

I.  JOHN  FRANKLIN 

1.  The  Traveller  Born 

Among  all  the  various  characters  of  men  none  is  more 
strongly  marked  than  that  of  the  Traveller,  and  John 
Franklin  is  one  of  the  most  typical  examples  of  it.  In 
his  stirring  sixty  years  of  life  he  served  his  country  in 
a  diversity  of  ways — he  was  a  sailor,  and  fought  in  great 
battles  ;  he  was  an  administrator,  and  governed  a  great 
colony ;  he  was  an  explorer,  and  made  famous  expedi- 
tions. But  it  was  only  in  the  last  of  these  callings  that 
he  found  his  true  work  and  a  real  satisfaction,  for 
he  was  urged  always  by  this  one  mastering  desire  to 
discover  the  earth  and  to  see  it  for  himself. 

He  was  born  in  1786  at  Spilsby  in  Lincolnshire,  one 
of  a  family  of  the  old-fashioned  kind,  a  round  dozen  in 
number.  He  had  four  brothers  and  four  sisters  older 
than  himself,  and  seems  to  have  been  rather  petted  and 
spoiled  as  a  little  boy,  for  he  was  then  very  delicate 
and  weakly,  like  many  small  boys  who  have  grown  up 
later  to  become  famous  men.  But  three  more  little 
sisters  were  born  after  him,  so  that  he  did  not  long 
remain  the  baby  of  the  family.  He  was  good-natured 
and  affectionate,  but  very  untidy  ;    and   this   was   a 


2    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

continual  distress  to  the  rest  of  the  household,  who  were 
noted  for  their  neatness  and  orderliness.  There  was 
one  terrible  day  when  the  whip  that  had  always  hung 
unused  on  the  staircase  landing,  had  to  be  taken  down 
and  laid  across  John's  shoulders. 

'  When  he  was  ten  he  was  sent  to  school,  first  at 
St.  Ives  and  then  to  the  Grammar  School  at  Louth. 
He  had  never  yet  seen  the  sea,  and  one  holiday  he  and 
a  friend  decided  to  make  for  the  coast,  which  was  only 
ten  miles  away  from  Louth.  We  are  not  told  what 
they  did  when  they  got  there,  but  when  John  returned 
he  had  firmly  made  up  his  mind  to  be  a  sailor.  His 
father  would  not  hear  of  such  a  thing,  and  declared  that 
he  would  rather  follow  his  son  to  the  grave  than  to  the 
sea.  However,  when  he  found  at  the  end  of  two  years 
that  John  had  not  changed  his  mind,  he  decided  to 
send  him  for  a  cruise  on  board  a  merchant  vessel  trading 
between  Hull  and  Lisbon.  This  was  a  much  rougher 
experience  for  a  boy  then  than  it  would  be  nowadays, 
and  he  probably  thought  that  a  taste  of  the  realities 
of  life  at  sea  would  cure  John  of  all  desire  to  be  a  sailor. 
But  John  returned  from  this  voyage  more  determined 
than  ever,  and  Mr.  Franklin,  like  a  wise  man,  gave  way. 
A  berth  was  obtained  for  John,  who  was  now  fourteen 
years  old,  as  a  first- class  volunteer  on  board  H.M.S. 
Polyphemus,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1800  his  brother 
Thomas  took  him  up  to  London  to  buy  him  his  outfit 
and  see  him  off.'  ^ 

In  the  following  March  the  Polyphemus  sailed  with 
Admirals  Hyde  Parker  and  Nelson  on  the  expedition 

1  Quoted  from  The  Book  of  the  Blue  Sea,  where  an  account 
will  be  found  of  Franklin's  service  in  the  Navy,  and  also  of  his 
last  Arctic  voyage  and  death. 


JOHN  FRANKLIN  3 

to  Copenhagen.  John  seems  to  have  relished  the 
prospect  of  fighting,  and  he  certainly  did  his  duty  in 
the  great  action  with  the  Danish  batteries  ;  but  it  is 
clear  that  he  had  already,  before  he  sailed,  felt  that 
exploring  impulse  which  never  leaves  a  man  when  it 
has  once  seized  him.  In  his  farewell  letter  he  begs 
his  father  to  get  him  transferred,  if  the  Polyphemus 
comes  back  in  time  from  the  Baltic,  to  the  Investigator 
a  vessel  that  was  preparing  to  survey  the  Australian 
coast  under  Captain  Matthew  Flinders.  The  Poly- 
phemus  fought  her  battle  and  came  back  in  time,  the 
transfer  was  obtained,  and  on  July  7,  1801,  John  sailed 
for  the  South  Seas  in  the  Investigator. 

The  voyage  was  a  long  one,  and  th  ship  not  sea- 
worthy. A  year  from  the  start  she  was  already  refitting 
in  Port  Jackson  ;  then  she  successfully  mapped  the 
coast  line  of  the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria,  where  a  river  still 
keeps  the  name  of  Flinders  ;  but  her  timbers  were  so 
rotten  that  on  her  return  to  Sydney  in  June  1803  she 
was  abandoned,  and  her  officers  started  for  home  in 
the  Porpoise.  When  750  miles  out  the  Porpoise  was 
wrecked  on  a  reef,  and  the  crew  were  only  relieved  after 
six  weeks  by  the  Rolla,  which  took  some  of  them, 
including  John,  on  to  Canton.  From  there  he  came 
home,  sailing  from  Calcutta  in  the  famous  East  India 
Fleet,  under  Commodore  Dance,  which  fought  and 
repulsed  a  French  naval  squadron  on  the  voyage.  The 
day  after  his  return  he  was  appointed  to  H.M.S. 
Bellerophon,  and  after  a  winter  spent  in  blockading 
Brest  his  ship  joined  the  fleet  off  Cadiz,  and  eventually 
took  part  in  the  Battle  of  Trafalgar.  After  this  John 
cruised  in  the  Bellerophon  for  two  years,  and  in  the 
Bedford  for  seven  more.     In  July  1815  he  was  promoted 


4   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

to  First  Lieutenant  in  the  Forth ;  but  the  war  was  over, 
and  in  two  months'  time  he  found  himself  ashore,  with 
his  fighting  career  closed  at  twenty-nine. 

He  was  more  fortunate  than  others,  in  having  a 
second  string  to  his  bow,  and  a  better  one.  In  1818, 
when  the  Admiralty  decided  to  send  expeditions  in 
search  of  the  North  Pole  and  the  North-West  Passage, 
they  selected  Lieutenant  John  Franklin  to  command 
one  of  the  two  ships  which  sailed  on  the  second  of  these 
voyages.  But  the  Dorothea  and  the  Trent  were  both 
very  small  vessels,  and  the  Trent,  Franklin's  command, 
was  leaky  ;  after  a  few  months  in  the  icepack  they  came 
back  damaged  and  unsuccessful — an  example  of  skill 
and  courage  wasted  by  official  parsimony.  The  mistake 
was  recognised  and  regretted,  and  in  the  following 
year,  1819,  two  fresh  expeditions  were  sent  out.  Parry 
with  two  ships  went  again  to  Baffin's  Bay  ;  Franklin 
was  given  the  command  of  an  overland  party,  with 
orders  to  explore  the  northern  coast  of  Arctic  America 
and  if  possible  to  meet  Parry  and  his  ships.  This  time 
he  had  found  the  real  opportunity  for  which  he  was 
fitted  by  nature,  and  it  was  actually  by  his  work  on  the 
Long  Trail  by  land  that  he  won  both  his  promotion 
in  the  Navy  and  his  subsequent  high  position  in  the 
public  service. 

2.  The  Expedition  to  the  North- West 

For  this  second  expedition  the  Admiralty  nominated 
three  officers  to  accompany  Lieutenant  Franklin : 
they  were  Dr.  John  Richardson,  a  naval  surgeon,  and 
two  midshipmen,  Mr.  George  Back  and  Mr.  Robert 
Hood.  Of  these  three,  Richardson  was  medical  officer 
and  scientific  naturalist.  Back  was  chartographer  and 


JOHN  FRANKLIN  5 

draughtsman,  Hood  was  draughtsman,  navigator,  and 
meteorologist  ;  all  were  able  men,  and  Franklin  records 
further  that  their  unfailing  kindness,  good  conduct, 
and  cordial  cooperation  made  an  ineffaceable  impression 
on  his  mind.  It  will  be  seen  presently  that  in  the 
light  of  their  desperate  experiences  these  words  shine 
with  a  peculiar  significance.  As  for  Franklin  himself, 
he  was  at  thirty-three,  as  he  was  at  sixty,  when  he  started 
upon  his  last  voyage,  an  ideal  leader,  inspiring  and 
ingenious,  pious  and  orderly,  forgetful  of  himself  and 
full  of  admiration  and  affection  for  his  men. 

His  instructions  were,  to  determine  the  latitudes 
and  longitudes  of  the  northern  coast  of  North  America, 
and  the  trending  of  that  coast  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Coppermine  River  eastwards  ;  the  route  to  be  decided 
by  himself,  after  consulting  the  servants  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  at  the  various  places  where  they  were 
established  for  the  purposes  of  the  winter  trade. 

The  whole  party  embarked  on  May  23,  at  Gravesend, 
on  board  the  Company's  ship  Prince  of  Wales,  which 
sailed  with  two  consorts,  the  Eddystone  and  Wear. 
They  touched  at  Yarmouth  in  Norfolk,  and  Mr.  Back 
having  gone  ashore  there  missed  his  ship,  which  could 
not  wait  for  him.  The  boatmen  who  should  have 
brought  him  off  perceived  that  he  was  in  a  hurry  and 
demanded  exorbitant  pay  ;  he  refused  to  be  black- 
mailed, and  started  off  overland  to  race  the  ship  to 
Stromness,  where  he  was  informed  that  she  would  call. 
He  posted,  coached,  and  sailed  the  distance  in  something 
under  nine  days,  caught  up  his  party,  and  ended  a  very 
midshipmanlike  performance  by  finding  his  friends  in 
a  ballroom  and  dancing  till  a  late  hour. 

After  weathering  a  severe  gale  and  escaping  some 


6    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

icebergs  the  Prince  of  Wales  reached  Hudson's  Bay, 
crossed  it,  and  anchored  off  Fort  York  on  August  30. 
Mr.  WilHams,  the  governor  of  the  factory  there  belong- 
ing to  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  immediately  came 
on  board,  and  gave  the  explorers  all  the  information 
they  required  for  beginning  their  overland  journey. 
A  great  deal  of  the  distance  could  be  accomplished  by 
following  the  rivers  and  lakes  which  make  an  irregular 
chain  to  the  west  and  north  ;  a  portable  boat  was 
therefore  got  ready  and  loaded  Avith  stores,  and  on 
September  9  the  expedition  began  its  first  stage  by 
sailing  up  the  tidal  estuary  of  the  Hayes  River.  After 
six  miles,  however,  the  tide  and  wind  both  failed  them, 
and  for  a  great  part  of  the  journey  '  tracking  '  or 
towing  became  necessary.  This  operation  and  the 
dragging  of  the  boat  over  the  '  portages,'  or  spaces 
between  one  waterway  and  another,  were  very  hard 
work,  and  it  was  a  relief  to  reach  Cumberland  House, 
on  Pine  Island  Lake,  on  October  22.  The  lake  was 
already  beginning  to  freeze,  and  by  November  8  the 
ice  would  bear  sledges  upon  it. 

This  stage,  though  fatiguing,  had  been  by  a  well- 
known  track  through  safe  country  ;  the  next  was  to 
be  considerably  longer  and  more  difficult — 857  miles 
instead  of  690 — and  lighter  boats  and  a  larger  party 
must  be  prepared.  Franklin  left  Richardson  and 
Hood  to  procure  two  canoes,  with  men  and  stores, 
while  he  himself,  with  Back  and  an  able  seaman  named 
John  Hepburn,  started  ahead  on  January  18  on  snow 
shoes,  accompanied  by  two  carrioles  and  two  sledges, 
drawn  by  dogs.  They  made  about  fifteen  miles  a  day, 
and  reached  Carlton  House,  the  next  factory,  on  the 
81st ;   left  again  on  February  8,  and  on  the  23rd,  after 


JOHN  FRANKLIN  7 

crossing  the  Isle  a  la  Crosse  Lake  in  a  bitter  blizzard, 
arrived  at  the  Company's  house  there — a  stage  of 
230  miles.  The  lake  is  named  from  an  island  on  it, 
where  the  Indians  formerly  played  an  annual  match 
at  the  game  of  La  Crosse. 

On  March  5,  after  a  brilliant  night  of  the  Aurora 


'  He  himself,  with  Back  and  John  Hepburn,  started  ahead.' 


Borealis,  the  travellers  set  out  again,  crossed  arms  of 
Clear  Lake  and  Buffalo  Lake,  lonely  haunts  of  the  Cree 
and  Chipewyan  Indians,  and  reached  on  the  13tli  the 
Methye  Portage,  across  which  they  rode  at  their  ease 
in  carrioles.  Thence  they  tobogganed  in  sledges  down 
the  almost  precipitous  slopes  towards  the  Clear  Water 
River  ;  crossed  this  and  the  Cascade  Portage,  and  came 
to  an  Indian  encampment,  where  they  smoked  the 
calumet,  or  Pipe  of  Peace,  in  the  chief's  tent.  His 
name  was  The  Thumb,  and  he  and  his  people  were  dirty 


8   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

and  disobliging.  Two  days  later  the  party  reached  the 
lodge  of  another  chief,  The  Sun,  but  though  a  genial 
host  and  delighted  to  see  the  Pale  Faces  he  could  give 
them  no  useful  information.  They  smoked  the  calumet 
with  him,  and  plunged  once  more  into  the  deep  snow. 
A  week  afterwards  they  fell  in  with  an  old  Canadian 
carrying  meat  to  Fort  Chipewyan  on  a  sledge  with 
two  tired  dogs  ;  under  his  guidance  they  succeeded  in 
reaching  the  fort  on  March  25. 

Their  first  object  here  was  to  obtain  some  certain 
information  as  to  their  future  route,  for  they  were 
now  to  push  on  into  a  region  where  they  must  rely 
entirely  on  their  own  resources.  Fort  Providence  was 
the  only  factory  house  now  to  the  north  of  them  : 
after  passing  this  they  would  meet  with  none  of  their 
own  race  until  they  returned  from  the  Polar  Sea. 
Accordingly  the  Company's  agents  were  asked  to  ex- 
plain to  the  Copper  Indians,  who  inhabited  the  district, 
the  object  of  the  expedition,  and  to  ask  them  for  guides 
and  hunters  to  accompany  it.  At  the  same  time  another 
trading  association,  the  North- West  Company,  consented 
to  lend  Mr.  Wentzel,  one  of  their  clerks,  and  a  number 
of  their  voyageurs  or  French- Canadian  boatmen.  Then 
a  large  birchen  canoe  was  built  during  the  month  of 
June  :  it  was  32 1  feet  in  length,  and  4  feet  10  inches 
wide  in  the  centre,  and  was  capable  of  carrying,  besides 
the  crew  of  five  or  six  men  with  their  provisions  and 
baggage,  twenty-five  extra  packages  of  90  lb.  each, 
or  a  total  lading  of  3300  lb.  weight.  Yet  the  canoe 
itself  was  so  light  that  at  a  portage,  when  it  was  emptied 
of  its  cargo,  it  could  be  carried  overland  by  two  men 
only,  and  they  would  even  run  with  it. 

The  canoe  was  finished  just  in  time.     On  July  5  it 


.'They  smoked  the  calumet  with  him.' 


10   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

was  taken  out  for  a  trial  trip,  and  when  caught  in  a 
heavy  gale  on  the  open  lake  showed  itself  to  be  an 
excellent  sea-boat.  On  July  13,  Franklin  and  Back 
had  the  pleasure  of  welcoming  their  friends  Richardson 
and  Hood,  who  brought  with  them  two  more  canoes 
and  some  stores  ;  but  the  pemmican  had  gone  bad 
on  the  way,  and  as  no  more  could  be  obtained  at  Fort 
Chipewyan  it  was  necessary  to  move  on  at  once,  or  the 
large  party  now  gathered  together  would  soon  have 
exhausted  their  food  supply.  All  unsatisfactory  men 
were  therefore  weeded  out  and  sent  home,  and  on  July  18 
the  rest  loaded  the  three  canoes  and  started  for  the 
North. 

The  crews  went  off  gaily  with  a  lively  paddling  song, 
and  the  descent  of  the  magnificent  Slave  River  made 
a  rapid  and  easy  beginning  for  their  journey  ;  but 
Franklin  was  painfully  aware  of  the  risk  they  were 
running.  Setting  aside  some  flour,  preserved  meat, 
chocolate,  arrowroot  and  portable  soup,  brought  out 
from  England  expressly  as  a  reserve  for  the  journey  to 
the  coast  next  season,  there  was  now  in  the  boats  only 
provision  for  one  day's  consumption  ;  after  that  the 
whole  party  must  live  on  what  they  could  find  or  kill. 
Accordingly  at  10  next  morning  a  halt  was  called  for 
fishing,  and  nets  were  set  at  the  entrance  of  the  Dog 
River.  The  result  was  a  failure — only  four  small  trout 
were  caught,  to  feed  twenty-four  people  ;  and  Franklin 
was  compelled  to  draw  on  his  precious  preserved  meats 
for  supper.  By  daylight  next  day  the  nets  again 
furnished  only  a  solitary  pike.  The  same  thing 
happened  once  more  on  the  following  morning  ;  but 
the  luck  then  turned.  A  big  buffalo  plunged  into  the 
river  ahead  of  the  boats  and  received  fourteen  rounds 


JOHN  FRANKLIN 


11 


of  rapid  fire  from  four  muskets,  after  which  he  was 
speedily  converted  into  beef,  and  the  flotilla  went  on 
its  way  singing. 

This  meat  and  an  additional  supply  purchased  from 


.'  A  big  buffalo  plunged  into  the  river.' 

Indians  enabled  the  expedition  to  carry  on  to  Fort 
Providence,  which  they  reached  on  July  28.  There 
they  found  waiting  for  them  Mr.  Wentzel,  with  the 
interpreter  Jean  Baptiste  Adam,  and  one  of  the  Indian 
guides  ;    and  there  the  Indian  Chief  Akaitcho,  or  Big 


12   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

Foot,  announced  his  intention  of  visiting  them  next 
morning.  He  arrived  with  a  procession  of  canoes, 
landed,  put  on  a  very  grave  air,  walked  up  to  Mr. 
Wentzel,  who  spoke  his  language,  and  was  introduced 
to  the  British  officers.  He  then  made  a  dignified  and 
pathetic  speech,  saying  that  he  had  agreed  to  accompany 
the  expedition,  and  hoped  it  would  be  productive  of 
much  good  to  his  tribe  ;  but  it  had  already  caused  him 
a  great  grief.  The  report  had  reached  him  that  among 
the  members  of  it  was  a  great  Medicine  Chief  who  could 
restore  the  dead  to  life.  At  this  he  had  rejoiced, 
thinking  to  see  again  the  departed  who  were  dear  to 
him ;  but  his  first  words  with  Mr.  Wentzel  had 
removed  these  vain  hopes,  and  he  felt  as  if  his  friends 
had  been  torn  from  him  a  second  time.  He  now 
wished  to  be  informed  exactly  of  the  nature  of  the 
expedition. 

In  answer  to  this  speech,  which  was  understood  to 
have  been  many  days  preparing,  Franklin  said  that  he 
had  been  sent  out  by  the  Greatest  Chief  in  the  world, 
who  was  the  friend  of  peace  and  had  the  interest  of 
every  nation  at  heart.  This  Chief,  having  learned  that 
his  children  in  the  North  were  much  in  need  of 
merchandise,  the  transport  of  which  was  hindered  by 
the  length  and  difficulty  of  the  present  route,  had  sent 
the  expedition  to  search  for  a  passage  for  his  vessels 
through  the  North-West  sea  ;  and  also  to  make  dis- 
coveries for  the  benefit  of  the  Indians  and  all  other 
peoples.  For  these  purposes  he  desired  the  assistance 
of  his  Indian  children,  and  especially  he  enjoined  upon 
them  that  all  hostilities  must  cease  between  them  and 
their  neighbours  the  Esquimaux.  Remuneration  would 
follow  in  the  shape  of  cloth,  ammunition  (for  hunting), 


JOHN  FRANKLIN  13 

tobacco,  and  useful  iron  instruments  ;    their  debts  to 
the  North-West  Company  would  also  be  discharged. 

Akaitcho  thereupon  renewed  his  assurances ;  as 
to  the  Esquimaux  he  recommended  caution,  because 
they  were  a  very  treacherous  people,  but  he  would  do 
everything  in  his  power  to  help  the  British.  And  he 
kept  his  word  ;  he  was  a  man  of  character  and  ability, 
obstinate  but  honourable  and  shrewd.  His  tribe, 
who  were  Copper  Indians  of  the  great  Chipewyan  or 
Northern  nation,  had  done  some  rough  things  when  on 
the  war  trail  against  the  Esquimaux,  but  to  Franklin 
and  his  men  they  showed  not  only  faithfulness  and 
goodwill  but  a  peculiarly  tender  devotion  in  the  time 
of  their  need  and  misery. 

3.  Driven  into  Winter  Quarters 

The  expedition  left  Fort  Providence  on  August  2, 
1820.  It  consisted  now  of  the  following  persons  ;  the 
four  officers,  Franklin,  Richardson,  Back,  and  Hood ; 
Frederick  Wentzel,  adviser  and  interpreter-general ; 
John  Hepburn,  British  seaman,  that  is  to  say  under- 
officer,  guard,  officers'  servant,  purveyor,  handy  man, 
and  stand-by.  Then  there  were  seventeen  voyageurs 
or  boatmen,  of  whom  fifteen  were  French-Canadians, 
one  an  Italian,  Vincenzo  Fontano,  and  one  an  Iroquois 
Indian,  Michel  Teroahaute,  who  was,  as  we  shall  hear 
later,  the  one  tragical  element  in  the  story.  Besides 
these  voyageurs  there  were  three  of  their  wives,  brought 
for  the  purpose  of  making  shoes  and  clothes  for  the 
men  during  the  winter,  and  they  had  three  of  their 
children  with  them.  Lastly,  there  were  two  Canadian 
interpreters,  St.  Germain  and  Adam,  and  one  Indian 
interpreter,    a    Chipewyan    called    Bois    Brules.     The 


14   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

party  travelled  in  three  large  canoes,  with  a  smaller 
one  to  convey  the  women  ;  and  they  all  started  in  high 
spirits,  Franklin  and  his  officers  being  especially  eager 
to  explore  a  line  of  country  which  had  never  yet  been 
visited  by  any  European. 

Next  day  they  embarked  again  before  dawn  and 
reached  the  entrance  of  a  stream  called  by  the  Indians 
Beg-ho-lo-dessy,  or  the  River  of  the  Toothless  Fish. 
Here  they  found  Akaitcho  and  his  hunters,  with  their 
families,  waiting  for  the  expedition.  The  Indians 
quickly  put  off  in  seventeen  canoes,  and  the  whole 
flotilla  went  forward.  Akaitcho  began  by  travelling 
in  state,  in  a  canoe  paddled  by  a  slave  whom  he  had 
captured  from  the  Dog-Rib  Indians  ;  but  after  a  few 
days  he  showed  his  good  sense  by  helping  to  paddle  and 
even  to  carry  his  canoe  at  the  portages.  He  also  made 
his  people  assist  the  white  men  in  carrying  the  baggage, 
and  they  obeyed  cheerfully.  On  the  second  day  they 
were  rewarded  by  a  new  and  exciting  pleasure  :  Mr. 
Back  got  out  a  fishing-rod  and  caught  several  fish  with 
a  fly.  His  skill  and  success  astonished  and  delighted 
the  Indians,  and  every  fisherman  will  understand  how 
much  this  common  interest  must  have  done  to  create 
an  understanding  between  the  White  and  the  Red  men. 
But  fish  were  not  always  procurable,  and  the  preserved 
meat  was  again  drawn  upon  till  it  gave  out.  Food 
supply  was  evidently  going  to  be  the  great  difficulty, 
and  some  of  the  Indians  went  ahead  to  hunt  game  for 
the  rest ;  Akaitcho  stayed  with  Franklin,  and  was 
always  entertained  at  his  table  as  a  token  of  regard. 
By  August  8  the  Canadians  were  exhausted  by  fatigue 
and  short  rations  ;  Franklin  was  driven  to  issue  the 
portable  soup  and  arrowroot.     Three  days  later  a  good 


JOHN  FRANKLIN  15 

supply  of  fish  was  secured  and  the  Indians  were  reported 
to  have  ht  fires — a  sure  indication  of  their  having  killed 
some  reindeer.  Shortly  afterwards  they  brought  in 
several  carcases,  and  the  crisis  was  over  for  the  time. 

But  difficulties  multiplied  upon  the  expedition. 
On  the  25th  the  first  frost  and  the  migration  of  the 
geese  gave  signs  of  the  approach  of  winter.  The  same 
day  Hepburn  went  out  shooting,  and  for  two  days  was 
completely  lost  in  the  foggy  and  trackless  woods.  The 
Indians  were  very  sympathetic,  but  were  in  two  minds 
about  risking  the  same  fate  by  going  on  a  search  party. 
At  last  three  men  and  a  boy  went  out  and  brought  poor 
Hepburn  back  half  dead  with  hunger  and  self-reproach. 
The  third  and  greatest  trouble  was  a  complete  dis- 
agreement with  Akaitcho.  The  Englishmen  had  always 
hoped  and  intended  to  reach  the  Coppermine  River 
and  go  down  it  to  the  coast  before  winter  ;  Akaitcho 
now  assured  them  that  this  was  dangerous  and  indeed 
impossible  so  late  in  the  season.  If  they  went  he  was 
resolved  to  go  back  to  Fort  Providence  ;  this  he  was 
too  courteous  to  say  to  Franklin,  but  he  confided  his 
intention  to  Wentzel,  who  of  course  told  his  leader. 
Franklin  then  had  it  out  with  the  Chief,  who  argued 
the  question  keenly,  and  ended  by  saying,  '  If  after  all 
I  have  said  you  are  determined  to  go,  some  of  my  young 
men  shall  join  the  party,  because  it  shall  not  be  said 
that  we  permitted  you  to  die  alone  ;  but  from  the 
moment  they  embark  in  the  canoes  I  and  my  relatives 
shall  lament  them  as  dead.' 

After  this  Homeric  conference  the  English  chief 
of  course  gave  up  his  plan  with  perfect  candour  and 
good  temper,  though  he  was  bitterly  disappointed. 
He  confesses  that  the  change  in  the  weather  did  some- 


16   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

what  alter  his  opinion,  but  says  stoutly  that  if  the 
Indian  had  been  willing  he  would  have  made  the 
attempt.  Then  he  gives  his  own  case  away  by  adding, 
'  with  the  intention  however  of  returning  immediately 
upon  the  first  decided  appearance  of  winter.' 

His  new  plan  was  a  better  one.  With  Akaitcho's 
approval  he  sent  Back  and  Hood  forward  in  a  light 
canoe  to  ascertain  the  distance  and  size  of  the  Copper- 
mine River.  Akaitcho  and  his  young  men  were  to  go 
to  the  hunting  grounds  and  kill  food  for  the  winter  ; 
and  the  rest  of  the  party  were  set  to  work  felling  timber 
and  building  a  house  for  the  winter  quarters  of  the 
expedition.  They  were  none  too  soon,  for  September 
began  with  a  daily  fall  of  the  temperature  to  freezing 
point.  On  the  4th  the  timber  was  ready,  and  they 
began  to  build  the  house  so  long  remembered  as  Fort 
Enterprise. 

Franklin,  having  seen  this  work  well  begun,  went 
off  on  foot  to  reconnoitre  the  Coppermine  River,  which 
still  attracted  him  like  a  magnet.  He  took  with  him 
Richardson  and  Hepburn,  a  voyageur  named  Sumandre, 
and  old  Keskarrah,  an  Indian  guide,  who  succeeded 
in  keeping  the  party  well  fed  with  reindeer's  meat. 
He  also  gave  them  a  curious  insight  into  the  hardiness 
of  the  Indians.  Owing  to  the  coldness  of  the  nights 
the  white  men  slept  by  the  camp  fire  without  undressing. 
'  Old  Keskarrah  followed  a  different  plan.  He  stripped 
himself  to  the  skin,  and  having  toasted  his  body  for  a 
short  time  over  the  embers  of  the  fire,  he  crept  under 
his  deerskin  and  rags,  previously  spread  out  as  smoothly 
as  possible,  and  coiling  himself  up  in  a  circular  form, 
fell  asleep  instantly.  This  custom  of  undressing  to 
the  skin  even  when  lying  in  the  open  air  is  common  to 


JOHN  FRANKLIN  17 

all    the    Indian    tribes.     The   thermometer    at    sunset 
stood  at  29°.' 

Franklin  in  making  this  journey  had  compromised 
between  determination  and  prudence,  and  the  result 
was  a  half  success  ;  his  party  came  within  sight  of  the 
Coppermine  River,  but  they  were  then  overtaken  by 
a  heavy  snowstorm  which  warned  them  plainly  that 
it  was  time  to  turn  back.  They  were  not  really  many 
miles  out,  but  soon  after  beginning  the  homeward 
journey  the  guide  began  to  lose  his  way  in  the  snow, 
and  when  they  halted  in  the  blizzard  it  took  two  hours 
to  make  a  fire  burn,  and  during  that  time  the  clothes 
of  the  wanderers  were  freezing  upon  them.  They  had 
to  sleep  half  standing,  with  their  backs  against  a  bank 
of  earth,  and  the  next  night,  spent  among  some  small 
pines,  was  not  much  more  comfortable.  On  the  third 
day  a  strenuous  effort  became  necessary,  for  their 
provisions  were  exhausted  ;  they  pushed  doggedly  on, 
and  finished  the  day's  march  of  twenty-two  miles  by 
8  in  the  evening.  At  Fort  Enterprise  they  found 
their  friends  Back  and  Hood,  who  had  returned  some 
days  before  ;  and  they  soon  forgot  their  fatigue  over 
a  substantial  supper  of  reindeer  steaks. 

It  was  not  yet  October,  but  all  travelling  to  the 
northward  was  now  over  for  the  season,  and  many 
preparations  must  be  made  before  a  fresh  start  could  be 
attempted.  The  year  had  not  seen  all  the  explorers' 
hopes  fulfilled,  but  they  had  learnt  a  good  deal  about 
travelling  in  theNorth-West,  they  had  established  a  good 
advanced  base,  and  they  calculated  with  some  satis- 
faction the  distance  they  had  accomplished  in  1820, 
that  is,  since  leaving  Cumberland  House.  It  was  1520 
miles.     We  cannot  doubt  that  they  also  reckoned  up, 


18   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

but  with  a  good  deal  less  pleasure,  the  sixteen  months 
which  had  now  gone  by  since  they  saw  their  own  country 
or  received  a  word  from  home. 

4.  Overland  to  the  Polar  Sea 

The  officers'  house  at  Fort  Enterprise  was  com- 
pleted on  October  6,  and  they  at  once  struck  tents  and 
removed  into  it.  It  was  a  plain  log  building,  50  feet 
long  and  24  wide,  divided  into  a  hall,  three  bedrooms, 
and  a  kitchen.  The  walls  and  roof  were  plastered  with 
clay,  the  floors  laid  with  planks  rudely  squared  with 
the  hatchet,  and  the  windows  closed  with  parchment 
of  deerskin.  The  clay  cracked  and  made  the  building 
draughty,  but  it  was  a  comfortable  dwelling  compared 
with  the  tents,  and  having  filled  the  capacious  clay- 
built  chimney  with  fagots,  the  party  '  spent  a  cheerful 
evening  before  the  invigorating  blaze.' 

The  events  of  the  winter  were  few  but  interesting. 
On  October  18  Back  and  Wentzel  started  for  Fort 
Providence,  to  bring  up  fresh  stores.  On  the  22nd  the 
whole  party  was  excited  by  the  mysterious  arrival  of 
a  strange  dog.  By  the  marks  on  his  ears  the  Copper 
Indians,  who  keep  no  dogs  themselves,  recognised  him 
as  belonging  to  the  Dog-Rib  tribe  ;  but  his  presence 
in  that  neighbourhood  was  never  accounted  for,  though 
a  search  was  made  to  see  if  Dog-Ribs  might  be  hiding 
near.  On  the  26th  Akaitcho  and  his  party  arrived — a 
serious  addition  to  the  eating  power  of  the  community. 
A  day  or  two  later  the  men's  house  was  finished  and 
occupied  :  it  was  34  feet  long  and  18  wide,  and  with 
the  officers'  quarters  and  the  storehouse  it  made  three 
sides  of  a  quadrangle. 

On  November  23  the  voyageur   Belanger   returned 


JOHN  FRANKLIN  19 

from  Fort  Providence,  having  made  a  final  forced  march 
of  thirty-six  hours.  His  hair  was  matted  with  snow 
and  his  body  encrusted  with  ice  ;  the  packet  of  letters 
he  carried  was  frozen  hard,  and  had  to  be  slowly  thawed, 
while  the  Indians  sat  silently  watching  the  English- 
men's faces  to  judge  of  the  character  of  the  news 
received.  It  was  partly  bad,  for  some  stores  had  been 
stolen,  and  partly  good,  for  two  Esquimaux  interpreters 
had  been  procured,  and  that  was  proof  of  the  influence 
of  Franklin  and  his  friends.  This  impressed  the 
Indians,  but  it  was  little  to  the  Englishmen  compared 
with  the  home  letters  which  they  now  held  in  their 
hands.  These  had  come  by  way  of  Canada,  and  had 
been  brought  up  in  September  to  Slave  Lake  by  the 
North-West  Company's  canoes ;  the  latest  of  them 
had  left  England  in  the  preceding  April,  nearly  a  year 
after  the  expedition  sailed,  and  were  therefore  only 
seven  months  old.  With  them  were  newspapers  which 
announced  the  death  of  King  George  III  and  the 
accession  of  George  IV  ;  but  this  piece  of  news  was 
carefully  concealed  from  the  Indians,  lest  the  death  of 
the  Great  Chief  might  be  supposed  to  lessen  Franklin's 
authority  and  make  him  unable  to  fulfil  his  promises 
to  them.  It  is  doubtful  whether  Akaitcho  himself 
was  kept  in  the  dark  ;  for  he  was,  Franklin  says,  a 
man  of  great  penetration  and  shrewdness,  who  often 
surprised  the  Englishmen  by  his  correct  judgment  of 
the  character  of  individuals,  steadily  comparing  their 
conduct  with  their  pretensions,  and  attentively  observ- 
ing everything,  though  most  of  his  information  could 
only  be  obtained  through  the  imperfect  medium  of 
an  interpreter. 

On  January  27,  1821,  Mr.  Wentzcl  and  St.  Germain 


20   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

returned,  bringing  with  them  the  two  Esquimaux. 
Their  names  were  Tattannoeuck  (The  Belly)  and 
Hoeootoerock  (The  Ear),  but  these  had  been  judiciously 
changed  to  Augustus  and  Junius,  derived  from  the  two 
months  in  which  they  had  been  originally  engaged  at 
Fort  Churchill.  Augustus  spoke  English  and  became 
an  important  member  of  the  expedition. 

The  winter  was  comfortable,  but  long  and  unevent- 
ful. Spring  is  noted  as  having  begun  on  May  12,  but 
the  temperature  was  still  down  to  freezing-point.  It 
was  not  until  June  12  that  the  Winter  River  was  fairly 
clear  of  ice,  but  by  then  the  whole  expedition  was  in 
readiness,  and  on  the  14th  they  started  towards  the 
North.  The  first  stage  was  overland  to  Winter  Lake  ; 
the  canoes  were  dragged  on  '  trains  '  by  teams  of  four 
men  and  two  dogs  each,  the  rest  followed  on  foot, 
carrying  stores  and  instruments.  The  air  was  still 
cold  and  snowstorms  were  frequent,  but  several  lakes 
were  successfully  crossed,  and  on  the  21st  the  expedition 
joined  up  with  Akaitcho  and  his  hunters  at  Point 
Lake,  which  was  still  frozen.  The  rest  of  the  Indians 
had  already  gone  further  north.  Nine  days  of  hard 
travelling  followed,  and  on  July  1  the  whole  party  came 
at  last  to  the  Coppermine  River. 

Next  day  they  launched  upon  this  river,  which  was 
200  yards  wide  and  flowed  rapidly  over  a  rocky  bottom. 
For  the  first  three  miles  the  canoes  were  carried  along 
by  the  stream  with  extraordinary  speed,  gliding  over 
boulders  and  plunging  through  rapids  and  drift  ice. 
Now  and  then  it  was  necessary  to  halt  and  repair  them, 
and  at  specially  dangerous  points  the  ammunition, 
guns,  and  instruments  had  to  be  put  ashore  and  carried 
along  the  bank.     This  uncomfortable  but  rapid  method 


JOHN  FRANKLIN  21 

of  journeying  continued  for  a  fortnight,  during  the 
whole  of  which  time  deer  and  musk  oxen  were  shot  in 
plenty  and  fish  were  also  caught. 

On  July  6  the  canoes  shot  a  series  of  rapids  which 
carried  them  past  the  entrance  to  a  lake  called  the 
Fairy  Lake.  Franklin  inquired  the  meaning  of  this 
name,  and  found  to  his  delight  that  the  Northern 
Indians  had  a  race  of  fairies  of  their  own.  They  are 
six  inches  high,  they  lead  a  life  similar  to  that  of  the 
Indians  themselves,  and  are  excellent  hunters.  Those 
who  have  the  good  luck  to  fall  in  with  their  tiny  en- 
campments are  always  kindly  treated,  and  feasted  on 
venison.  But  unfortunately  this  did  not  happen  to  the 
Englishmen  :  they  got  no  nearer  than  hearsay.  They 
did  however  meet  with  some  very  friendly  Indians  of 
ordinary  size,  headed  by  two  chiefs  named  Long  Legs 
and  The  Hook. 

On  July  12  Franklin  found  that  he  was  on  the 
confines  of  the  Esquimaux  territory,  and  became 
anxious  about  the  possible  result  of  a  meeting  between 
them  and  the  Copper  Indians,  who  had  massacred  some 
of  them  in  their  last  war.  On  this  day  too  the  expedition 
was  rushed  by  a  bear,  which  pursued  two  Indians  into 
the  middle  of  a  whole  party  on  the  shore  so  suddenly 
and  fiercely  that  all  the  hunters  fired  wildly  and  missed 
him  at  close  quarters.  Akaitcho  alone  kept  his  head, 
took  deliberate  aim,  and  shot  the  beast  dead  at  the 
critical  moment.  The  Indians  would  not  eat  bear's 
meat,  but  the  white  men  did,  and  found  it  excellent. 

The  Indians  were  now  kept  behind,  and  Augustus 
and  Junius  were  sent  forward  to  find  the  Esquimaux 
and  negotiate  with  them.  This  they  succeeded  in  doing 
on  July  14,  but  next  day  the  Indians  disobeyed  orders 


22   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

and  came  up  to  the  front,  whereupon  the  Esquhnaux 
bolted,  expecting  another  massacre.  At  last  an  old 
chief  named  Terregannoeuck  was  found  ;  he  was  too 
infirm  to  run  away,  but  he  thrust  out  with  his  spear 
at  Augustus,  and  at  Akaitcho.  Afterwards  the  Esqui- 
maux reappeared  in  such  numbers  that  the  Indians  in 
their  turn  became  alarmed  and  wanted  to  go  home 
at  once,  lest  they  should  be  surrounded  and  cut  off. 
Franklin  let  them  go,  and  made  his  way  forward  to  the 
sea  under  the  guidance  of  Augustus. 

He  reached  the  seashore  on  July  19,  1821,  having 
come  from  Fort  Enterprise,  a  distance  of  334  miles,  of 
which  217  were  traversed  by  water,  while  for  117  miles 
the  canoes  and  baggage  were  dragged  over  snow  and 
ice.  The  first  objective  of  the  expedition  had  been 
gained. 

The  second  was  to  be  the  survey  of  the  coast-line 
to  the  East,  but  this  no  longer  appeared  so  simple  as 
it  had  done  when  planned  in  England  ;  the  difficulty 
of  food  supply  was  now  realised.  The  British  officers, 
however,  were  delighted  to  see  the  sea  again,  and  thought 
they  could  hardly  fail  to  do  better  on  their  own  element. 
They  started  therefore  in  high  spirits  on  what  can  only 
be  described  as  a  month's  naval  picnic.  Every  day 
they  made  what  progress  they  could  along  the  deeply 
indented  coast  line,  mapping  all  the  headlands  and  bays, 
and  naming  them  after  friends  at  home.  Every  night 
they  came  ashore  to  sleep  and  kill  game  ;  at  times  they 
lived  well,  at  times  they  nearly  starved ;  they  ate 
anything  and  everything  :  deer,  reindeer,  fish,  fat  bears, 
lean  bears,  wild  swans,  cranes,  musk-oxen,  geese — even 
seals  and  white  foxes.  But  the  time  came  when  this 
hand-to-mouth  picnic  had  to  end  ;  the  weather  became 


'  Akaitcho  alone  kept  his  head,  and  shot  the  beast  dead,' 


24   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

extremely  rough,  the  Canadian  voyageurs,  who  were 
only  freshwater  sailors,  were  terrified  by  the  height  of 
the  waves,  and  the  canoes  had  to  keep  near  the  shore, 
where  they  found  calmer  water  but  were  in  danger  of 
sunken  rocks.  Franklin  saw  that  he  could  do  no  further 
surveying,  for  he  could  not  pass  with  any  hope  of  safety 
outside  the  eastern  end  of  the  great  sound  in  which  he 
had  hitheHo  been  sailing — the  bay  now  called  Bathurst 
Sound,  but  named  by  the  expedition  George  IV's 
Coronation  Gulf.  He  had  also  to  think  of  his  return 
to  Fort  Enterprise  ;  and  there  was  a  reason  beyond  all 
these,  which  gave  him  great  pain — he  discovered  that 
his  men,  who  had  hitherto  shown  courage  beyond  his 
expectation,  had  now  so  completely  lost  their  nerve  that 
they  expressed  their  fear  even  in  the  presence  of  their 
officers.  On  August  12,  after  consulting  his  staff,  he 
decided  to  turn  in  four  days'  time ;  the  distance 
accomplished  was  550  miles,  and  he  had  seen  enough  to 
convince  him  of  the  existence  of  a  continuous  coastline 
— that  is  to  say  of  a  navigable  passage  from  sea  to  sea. 

5.  The  Barren  Grounds 

Franklin's  original  intention  had  been  to  return 
by  way  of  the  Coppermine  River,  find  The  Hook  and  his 
hunters,  and  travel  to  Slave  Lake  through  the  woods 
by  the  Great  Bear  and  Marten  Lakes  ;  for  it  was  of 
course  impossible  to  travel  upstream  on  so  swift  and 
strong  a  river  as  the  one  by  which  they  had  come  down. 
This  plan  was  evidently  no  longer  feasible  ;  the  coast 
voyage  had  brought  the  explorers  further  than  they 
expected,  and  their  provisions  were  too  scanty  for  the 
return  journey,  especially  as  it  would  take  them  through 
a   desolate   country   known   as   the    Barren   Grounds. 


JOHN  FRANKLIN  25 

This  must  be  crossed  by  the  shortest  possible  cut. 
Franklin  determined  to  make  for  Arctic  Sound,  an 
inlet  to  the  south-west,  where  he  had  found  the  animals 
rather  more  numerous  than  elsewhere  along  the  coast. 
From  there  he  could  make  his  way  up  Hood's  River  as 
far  as  it  was  navigable,  and  then  break  up  his  large 
canoes  and  use  the  materials  to  make  smaller  ones 
which  could  be  carried  across  the  portages  of  the  Barren 
Grounds  and  so  back  to  Fort  Enterprise.  There  he 
would  find  Mr.  Wentzel  and  Akaitcho's  hunters,  with 
fresh  stores  of  meat. 

The  weather  now  turned  stormy  and  delayed  his 
departure  from  his  comfortless  camp,  which  he  named 
Point  Turnagain.  He  had  a  day  of  great  anxiety  too  : 
Junius  had  shot  a  deer,  and  Belanger  the  voyageur 
and  Michel  the  Iroquois  went  out  to  help  him  bring  it 
in.  None  of  them  returned,  and  a  search  party  found 
them  after  twenty-four  hours  badly  frozen,  quite  lost, 
and  without  the  deer,  which  they  had  found  but 
abandoned.  Then  Augustus  got  lost  too,  and  was  out 
all  night.  Finally,  the  start  was  made  on  August  22, 
and  the  spirits  of  all  rose  ;  but  their  hunting  that  day 
was  a  failure,  and  they  had  to  go  to  sleep  dinnerless. 
After  this,  in  bad  weather  and  on  a  level  of  frozen  rocks, 
the  food  supply  became  a  very  grim  problem.  By 
September  6  all  the  store  of  pemmican  was  eaten,  and 
only  a  little  arrowroot  and  portable  soup  left.  The 
Canadians  began  to  weaken,  and  were  repeatedly  blown 
down  by  the  wind  while  carrying  the  boats.  On  the 
7th  Benoit  fell  so  heavily  as  to  break  the  largest  canoe 
beyond  repair.  On  the  same  day  Franklin  himself 
fainted  on  the  march.  That  morning  they  made  the 
best  of  a  bad  business  by  using  the  broken  canoe  for 


26   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

firewood  and  serving  out  the  last  of  the  soup  and 
arrowroot. 

In  the  afternoon  they  discovered  a  new  resource, 
which  helped  them  considerably  for  many  days  after. 
They  entered  a  tract  of  country  where  the  rocks  were 
covered  with  a  lichen  called  by  the  Canadians  triye 
de  roche,  not  very  nourishing  but  eatable  enough.  With 
half  a  partridge  each  they  made  a  slender  supper  of 
this,  and  then  slept  in  their  damp  clothes.  But  they 
took  off  their  shoes  and  socks  and  lay  upon  them  to 
prevent  them  from  freezing ;  and  this  now  became  their 
regular  practice.  It  is  a  vivid  touch  of  hardship  ;  but  in 
the  matter  of  shoes  there  was  a  worse  extremity  to  come. 

Two  Alpine  hares  were  killed  on  September  9,  and 
4  lb.  of  meat  was  robbed  from  a  wolf's  half-eaten  dinner ; 
on  the  10th  a  musk-ox  was  shot.  After  that,  berries 
and  a  single  partridge  kept  the  party  for  two  days  ; 
tripe  de  roche  was  not  agreeing  with  their  stomachs. 
The  men's  packs  were  now  lightened  by  abandoning 
everything  except  ammunition  and  the  instruments 
necessary  for  finding  the  way.  Franklin  lent  his  gun  to 
St.  Germain,  and  Hood  lent  his  to  Michel  the  Iroquois, 
and  rewards  were  offered  for  any  animals  killed  by  any 
of  the  party.  Michel  was  the  most  eager  and  success- 
ful ;  and  Perrault  the  Canadian  distinguished  himself 
on  September  14  by  an  act  of  great  kindness  and 
loyalty.  Seeing  the  officers  standing  round  a  small 
fire,  and  no  doubt  talking  gravely,  he  came  up  and 
presented  each  of  them  with  a  small  piece  of  meat, 
which  by  great  self-denial  he  had  saved  from  his  own 
allowance.  Franklin  says  this  filled  their  eyes  with 
tears,  being  totally  unexpected  in  a  voyageur,  for  these 
men  had  not  always  behaved  well, 


JOHN  FRANKLIN  27 

Later  in  the  day  a  very  trying  incident  occurred. 
A  river  was  to  be  crossed,  and  Franklin  was  to  go 
first  with  St.  Germain  and  Belanger.  The  stream  was 
about  300  yards  wide,  and  flowed  with  great  velocity 
through  a  broken  rocky  channel.  At  the  smoothest 
place  the  canoe  was  placed  in  the  water  at  the  head 
of  a  rapid  and  the  three  travellers  embarked.  In  mid- 
channel  the  canoe  became  difficult  to  manage  ;  the 
wind  caught  it  and  the  current  drove  it  to  the  edge  of 
the  rapids.  Belanger  made  a  violent  effort  to  keep 
off,  lost  his  balance,  and  the  canoe  went  over  in  the 
middle  of  the  rapids.  All  three  men  kept  hold  of  it 
until  they  came  to  a  rock  where  the  water  was  only 
waist  deep  ;  there  they  stood  fast  and  emj^tied  the 
canoe.  Belanger  then  held  it  steady  while  Franklin 
and  St.  Germain  got  on  board  ;  but  he  then  found  that 
he  could  not  embark  himself,  for  the  moment  he  raised 
his  feet  from  the  rock  the  boat  Avould  have  been  swept 
down  the  rapids  again.  He  therefore  pushed  the  other 
two  off  towards  shore  and  stayed  on  the  rock  him- 
self. Franklin  and  St.  Germain  struck  another  rock, 
sank,  stood  up  again  in  shallow  water,  and  emptied 
the  boat  once  more ;  then  got  across  at  the  third 
attempt. 

Meantime  poor  Belanger  was  suffering  extremely, 
standing  up  to  his  middle  in  water  very  little  above 
freezing  point,  with  all  his  clothes  soaking  and  a  cold 
wind  cutting  him.  He  called  piteously  for  help,  and 
St.  Germain  tried  to  get  to  him  in  the  canoe,  but  it  was 
carried  past  him  by  the  current.  The  Canadian  Adam 
then  tried,  but  he  too  failed.  The  slings  of  the  men's 
loads  were  then  tied  together  to  make  a  rope,  and  the 
canoe  was  paid  out  on  this,  but  it  broke  with  the  force 


28      THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

of  the  stream.  A  second  attempt  was  made  with  a 
small  cord  from  one  of  the  nets,  and  this  time  the  canoe 
passed  so  near  to  Belanger  that  he  caught  it ;  but 
before  he  could  get  on  board  he  was  carried  down 
through  the  rapids  and  dragged  ashore  perfectly  in- 
sensible. By  Dr.  Richardson's  orders  he  was  instantly 
stripped  and  rolled  in  blankets  ;  then  two  men  stripped 
and  lay  down  on  each  side  of  him,  to  act  as  living  hot 
bottles  ;  but  it  was  some  hours  before  he  recovered 
enough  to  be  put  to  bed  in  front  of  a  fire.  Franklin 
was  then  rescued  by  Augustus,  who  brought  the  canoe 
across  and  took  him  back  with  the  greatest  coolness 
and  skill.  His  sensations  while  he  was  on  the  farther 
bank,  watching  the  attempts  to  save  Belanger,  were, 
he  says,  indescribable.  He  was  alone,  with  nearly 
300  yards  of  water  between  him  and  his  whole  party, 
without  food,  gun,  hatchet,  or  the  means  of  making  a 
fire,  and  there  were  his  companions  risking  their  lives 
and  their  only  remaining  canoe  in  attempting  a  rescue 
which  he  was  too  far  off  to  see  distinctly.  He  paced 
up  and  down  that  rocky  shore  in  wet  and  freezing  clothes 
while  the  whole  fate  of  his  expedition  hung  on  a  small 
cord  and  the  skill  of  one  man.  But  no  man  ever  had 
a  stouter  heart,  and  by  noon  next  day  he  had  got  all 
the  party  going  again,  including  even  the  half- drowned 
Belanger. 

For  several  days  after  this  game  almost  entirely 
failed  them  ;  they  lived  on  tripe  de  roche  and  a  few 
partridges,  pieces  of  skin,  and  old  bones  of  deer,  and 
even  their  own  old  shoes.  On  September  22  their 
last  canoe  was  broken  by  several  severe  falls,  and  the 
voyageurs  demanded  that  it  should  be  abandoned. 
Franklin  refused,  but  they  threw  it  down  and  left  it 


JOHN  FRANKLIN  29 

while  he  was  following  another  track  in  search  of  Dr. 
Richardson,  who  had  strayed.  These  men  were  now 
quite  furious,  believing  that  the  Indian  hunters  had 
played  false  with  the  expedition  ;  but  the  officers  were 
firm,  and  the  situation  was  saved  on  the  25th  by  the 
appearance  of  a  herd  of  deer,  out  of  which  five  were 
shot. 

They  were  now  at  the  east  end  of  Point  Lake.  Mr. 
Back  was  sent  forward  with  the  interpreters  to  search 
for  game  ;  and  Junius  and  the  voyageur  Credit  also 
went  off  in  another  direction.  On  the  28th,  camp 
was  pitched  by  the  Coppermine  River,  here  130  yards 
wide,  which  Franklin  decided  to  cross  by  means  of  a 
raft.  This  was  built  of  willows,  but  there  was  no  wood 
for  oars  or  paddles,  and  the  men  were  becoming  hopeless 
when  Dr.  Richardson  volunteered  to  swim  across  with 
a  towing  line.  He  got  nearly  across,  but  first  his  arms 
became  powerless,  and  then  his  legs ;  at  last  he  sank, 
and  was  hauled  back  nearly  lifeless.  He  was  stripped 
and  rolled  in  blankets,  and  at  sight  of  his  skeleton-like 
body  the  Canadians  all  burst  into  a  cry  of  '  Ah  !  que 
nous  sommes  maigres  !  '  They  were  at  any  rate  less 
lean  than  their  officers,  for  they  had  not  only  stolen 
rations  but  had  often  eaten  the  partridges  they  shot 
instead  of  bringing  them  back  for  the  common 
stock. 

Back  now  returned,  and  St.  Germain  set  to  work  to 
build  a  new  canoe  out  of  the  fragments  of  canvas  in 
which  the  men  carried  their  bedding.  In  this  he 
succeeded,  on  October  4,  in  crossing  the  river,  and 
eventually  in  transporting  the  whole  party.  Franklin 
then  immediately  sent  Back  forward  again  with  three 
men  to  search  for  the  Indians,  and  if  necessary  to  push 


30   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

on  to  Fort  Enterprise ;  the  spirits  of  the  voyageurs 
rose  incredibly,  and  they  insisted  on  shaking  hands  with 
their  officers.  But  their  troubles  were  not  yet  over  : 
they  weakened  day  by  day,  and  could  no  longer  carry 
their  loads.  The  stronger  ones  wished  to  go  ahead  and 
leave  the  weaker.  Hood,  who  was  growing  very  weak, 
and  Richardson,  who  was  lame,  now  offered  to  stay 
behind  with  a  single  attendant  and  ten  days'  supply  of 
tripe  de  roch^,  while  Franklin  and  the  rest  went  on  to 
Fort  Enterprise.  Franklin  was  much  distressed,  and 
argued  with  them  for  a  long  time,  but  at  last  he  had 
the  good  sense  to  agree  ;  he  left  them  John  Hepburn 
and  a  barrel  of  powder,  and  pushed  on.  Richardson 
and  Hepburn  were  in  fact  fit  enough  to  go  with  him  ; 
they  were  risking  themselves  for  Hood's  sake. 

Franklin's  forced  march  was  a  terrible  one  ;  Credit 
was  still  missing  somewhere  in  the  rear,  Vaillant  was 
too  exhausted  to  be  moved,  Perrault  and  Fontano 
soon  turned  dizzy  and  collapsed.  He  pushed  on  with 
only  Adam  and  three  Others,  and  reached  Winter  River 
at  last  without  a  morsel  of  food  left ;  there  were  reindeer 
in  sight,  but  all  four  men  were  now  too  feeble  to  follow 
them  or  raise  a  gun.  But  they  were  within  one  day  of 
home  ;  they  crept  under  their  blankets  and  '  kept  up  a 
cheerful  conversation '  in  place  of  supper.  Next  day 
they  lived  on  a  little  tea  and  some  shoes,  and  made 
straight  for  the  house  in  silence,  agitated  with  hopes  and 
fears.  The  fears  had  it  :  Fort  Enterprise  was  perfectly 
desolate,  without  a  trace  of  the  Indians,  of  Wentzel,  or 
of  any  kind  of  provisions.  The  whole  party  realised  not 
only  their  own  fate  but  that  of  their  friends  in  the  rear, 
and  there  was  not  one  of  them  who  could  refrain  from 
tears. 


JOHN  FRANKLIN  31 

6.  Red  Men,  Best  and  Worst 

After  the  first  bitter  moment  of  disappointment 
Franklin  regained  the  vigour  of  mind  for  which  he  was 
always  remarkable,  and  began  to  form  his  plans.  A 
note  was  found  from  Mr.  Back,  stating  that  he  had 
reached  the  house  two  days  ago  and  had  gone  in  search 
of  the  Indians,  intending  to  make  his  way  if  necessary 
as  far  as  Fort  Providence.  But  Franklin  knew  how 
weak  Back  and  his  companion  St.  Germain  must  now 
be,  and  how  long  supplies  would  be  coming  from  such 
a  distance  ;  moreover  there  were  Hood  and  his  party 
to  be  supplied  immediately.  He  determined  therefore 
to  go  in  search  of  the  Indians  himself,  as  soon  as  he  could 
get  his  party  to  face  another  effort.  In  the  meantime 
he  looked  about  for  food,  and  thought  himself  lucky 
to  find  several  old  deerskins,  and  some  bones  in  the  ash- 
heap  ;  with  these  and  some  triye  de  roche  he  thought 
he  could  keep  his  party  alive  for  a  few  days. 

That  night  Augustus  appeared  unexpectedly,  and 
on  the  13th  Belanger  returned  with  another  note  from 
Back,  asking  for  fresh  instructions  as  he  had  failed  to 
find  the  Indians  at  or  near  Winter  River.  Franklin 
replied,  telling  him  to  rendezvous  at  Reindeer  Lake, 
where  he  would  join  him  on  the  way  to  Fort  Providence, 
for  he  was  now  convinced  that  the  Indians  must  be 
there.  Belanger  started  on  his  return  journey  on  the 
18th,  after  trying  hard  to  conceal  from  Franklin  where 
he  had  left  Back  and  St.  Germain — he  was  afraid  the 
whole  party  might  follow  him  and  take  a  share  of  the 
food  that  St.  Germain  killed. 

His  selfishness  was  quite  unnecessary,  for  the  men 
were  most  of  them  hopelessly  unfit  to  move ;   Adam's 


32   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

limbs  were  so  swollen  that  he  could  not  march  at  all. 
When  the  time  came  Franklin  could  only  take  with 
him  Augustus  and  Benoit,  and  the  little  party  of  three 
could  hardly  crawl  along.  But  the  others  gave  them 
a  brave  send-off,  and  they  did  four  miles  in  six  hours 
walking.  They  supped  on  deerskin  and  tea,  and  found 
the  night  bitterly  cold. 

Next  morning  they  started  again,  but  had  not 
gone  many  yards  when  Franklin  fell  between  two  rocks 
and  broke  both  his  snow  shoes.  He  made  a  plucky 
attempt  to  keep  up  with  the  others  in  spite  of  this  ; 
but  he  soon  became  exhausted,  and  saw  that  he  was 
only  delaying  them  and  endangering  the  whole  expedi- 
tion. He  therefore  wrote  directions  for  them  to  take 
on  to  Back,  and  himself  returned  alone  to  Fort  Enter- 
prise. He  found  the  voyageurs  much  weaker  and  in 
tears. 

That  evening,  as  they  all  sat  round  the  fire,  talking 
of  the  coming  relief,  a  noise  was  heard  in  the  other 
room.  '  Ah  !  le  monde  !  '  exclaimed  Peltier  joyfully, 
making  sure  that  the  Indians  had  come.  But  to  his 
great  disappointment  it  was  not  the  Indians  who 
entered,  but  Richardson  and  Hepburn.  Franklin  was 
of  course  very  happy  to  see  them,  but  they  looked 
miserably  emaciated,  and  he  hardly  dared  to  ask  after 
their  companions.  Richardson  told  him  the  news 
briefly,  and  it  was  terrible.  Perrault  and  Fontano 
had  never  been  seen  again  ;  Hood  and  Michel  were 
dead.  No  more  was  told  at  that  time,  for  they 
knew  that  they  could  bear  no  more  on  either  side. 
Richardson  even  asked  the  party  in  the  house  to 
speak  more  cheerfully,  not  realising  that  his  own  tones 
were   equally   weak   and  sepulchral.     The   seven  men 


JOHN  FRANKLIN  33 

supped  ravenously  upon  a  single  partridge,  and  the 
Doctor,  having  saved  his  prayer-book,  read  evening 
prayers  before  they  went  to  bed. 

It  was  not  till  after  supper  next  day  that  Dr.  Richard- 
son's narrative  was  told.  After  Richardson,  Hood, 
and  Hepburn  had  voluntarily  remained  behind,  in  hope 
of  a  speedy  rescue,  they  were  joined  by  Michel  the 
Iroquois,  who  immediately  killed  some  game  for  them. 
He  had  been  sent  by  Franklin  with  a  note,  saying  that 
Perrault  and  Belanger  would  also  join  the  party  ;  but 
these  two,  he  said,  had  left  him  on  the  way  ;  and  he 
declared  that  Perrault  had  given  him  Franklin's  gun 
and  bullets,  which  he  had  been  carrying.  Neither 
Perrault  nor  Belanger  was  ever  seen  again  ;  but  a  piece 
of  wolf's  flesh  in  Michel's  possession  was  afterwards 
found  to  be  part  of  a  human  body. 

Michel's  manner  now  became  surly  and  difficult : 
sometimes  he  hunted,  sometimes  he  refused  to  hunt. 
On  the  19th  of  October  he  would  not  even  help  to  carry 
a  log  to  the  fire,  and  when  Hood  lectured  him  on  his 
duty  he  exclaimed  :  ''  It  is  no  use  hunting,  there  are 
no  animals  :  you  had  better  kill  and  eat  me.'  The 
next  day,  Sunday,  while  Richardson  was  gathering 
tripe  de  roche  after  morning  service,  and  Hepburn  was 
cutting  down  a  tree  for  fuel,  Hood  was  left  sitting  by 
the  fire,  arguing  again  with  Michel,  who  showed  great 
unwillingness  to  hunt,  and  was  hanging  about  under 
pretence  of  cleaning  his  gun. 

Richardson  heard  a  shot  fired,  but  thought  nothing 
of  it  until  ten  minutes  afterwards,  when  Hepburn's 
voice  was  heard  shouting  to  him,  in  great  alarm,  to 
come  directly.  When  he  reached  the  fireside  he  found 
Hood  lying  lifeless,  with  a  bullet  wound  through  his 


34   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

forehead.  For  a  moment  he  thought  with  horror 
that  the  poor  fellow  might  have  killed  himself  in  a  fit 
of  despondency ;  then  he  remembered  Michel,  and 
examined  the  wound.  The  bullet  had  been  fired  into 
the  back  of  the  head,  and  the  gun  had  been  held  so  close 
that  Hood's  cap  was  burnt  behind. 

Michel's  account  of  it  was  that  Mr.  Hood  had  sent 
him  into  the  tent  for  the  short  gun,  and  in  his  absence 
the  long  gun  had  gone  off,  he  could  not  tell  how.  But 
the  long  gun  was  so  long  that  no  man  could  have  shot 
himself  with  it  in  any  position.  Michel  repeatedly 
protested  that  he  was  incapable  of  having  committed 
murder,  and  Richardson  dared  not  openly  show  his 
suspicions  ;  but  it  was  noted  that  Michel  after  this 
never  left  the  two  Englishmen  alone  together,  and  he 
knew  enough  English  to  understand  if  they  had  spoken 
of  the  subject  in  his  hearing. 

On  the  23rd  the  diminished  party  set  out  to  march 
for  Fort  Enterprise ;  for  it  was  only  Hood's  weak 
condition  that  had  kept  them  behind  the  others. 
Michel  and  Hepburn  each  carried  one  of  the  guns, 
and  Richardson  had  a  small  pistol,  which  Hepburn 
had  loaded  for  him.  Michel's  conduct  soon  became 
alarming  ;  he  assumed  a  tone  of  superiority,  and  ex- 
pressed his  hatred  of  the  white  people,  or  French,  as 
he  called  them  ;  some  of  them,  he  said,  had  killed  and 
eaten  his  uncle  and  other  relatives.  It  became  plainer 
every  moment  that  he  had  the  two  Englishmen  in  his 
power  ;  they  were  very  weak  and  badly  armed,  while 
he  had  the  best  gun,  two  pistols,  an  Indian  bayonet 
and  a  knife,  and  the  strength  to  use  them.  The  crisis 
came  in  the  afternoon,  when  he  made  some  triye  de 
roche  an  excuse  to  lag  behind,  saying  that  he  would  catch 


JOHN  FRANKLIN  35 

the  others  up  shortly.  It  was  more  than  probable 
that  he  meant  to  attack  them  while  they  were  in  the 
act  of  encamping  ;  in  any  case  they  were  doomed,  and 
Hepburn  took  this  opportunity  to  offer  to  make  an 
attack  upon  their  crazy  enemy. 

Richardson,  however,  could  not  leave  so  great  a 
responsibility  to  a  subordinate.  He  was  thoroughly 
convinced  of  his  own  duty,  and  he  did  it  with  unshaken 
nerve.  He  waited  for  the  Iroquois,  who  at  last  came 
up,  and  of  course  without  the  tripe  de  roche  which  had 
been  his  excuse  ;  then  with  the  single  shot  from  his 
pistol  he  killed  him  instantly.  Six  days  afterwards  he 
and  Hepburn  stumbled  into  Fort  Enterprise. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  this  stern  execution 
was  approved  by  all  those  to  whom  the  facts  were  now 
told  ;  but  the  story  cast  a  deep  gloom  over  the  whole 
party.  This  was  much  increased  by  the  illness  of 
Franklin,  Hepburn,  and  Adam,  all  of  whom  suffered 
from  weakness  and  swellings  ;  Richardson  too  was 
declining  in  strength.  The  general  lassitude  was  such 
that  it  became  too  great  a  labour  to  separate  the  hair 
from  the  deerskins  on  which  they  were  mainly  living, 
so  that  they  actually  ate  less  than  their  stock  afforded, 
and  of  course  increased  their  weakness  still  more. 
They  generally  succeeded  in  sleeping  at  night,  and  their 
dreams  were  pleasant,  being  for  the  most  part  about 
the  enjoyments  of  feasting.  But  Franklin  notes  that 
as  their  bodily  strength  decayed,  their  minds  also 
weakened,  and  they  became  unreasonably  irritable  with 
each  other.  They  could  not  bear  even  the  smallest 
kindness  one  from  another,  or  assistance  of  any  kind. 
Hepburn,  who  kept  his  sense  of  humour,  was  heard  to 
remark  :     '  Dear  me,   if   we   are   spared   to   return  to 


36   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

England,  I  wonder  if  we  shall  recover  our  under- 
standings.' 

On  November  7  Adam  was  apparently  dying ; 
Franklin  was  with  him,  and  the  Doctor  and  Hepburn 
were  cutting  wood  outside,  when  a  shot  was  heard. 
They  could  not  believe  their  senses,  until  a  shout 
followed,  and  they  saw  three  Indians  close  to  the  house. 
Richardson  hurried  in  with  the  joyful  news,  but  poor 
Adam  could  scarcely  understand  it ;  when  the  Indians 
actually  entered  he  attempted  to  rise,  and  sank  down 
again.     But  he  began  to  mend  from  that  moment. 

The  Indians  had  left  Akaitcho's  camp  only  two 
days  before,  after  Back  had  found  them.  They  brought 
a  note  from  him,  and  some  meat,  on  which  the  starving 
expedition  badly  over-ate  itself,  in  spite  of  the  Doctor's 
warning.  After  an  hour's  rest,  one  of  the  Indians, 
named  Boudel-Kell,  returned  to  Akaitcho  with  the 
news,  and  a  request  for  more  food  ;  the  other  two, 
Crooked-Foot  and  The  Rat,  remained  to  take  care  of 
the  sufferers.  Franklin  was  very  greatly  impressed 
by  their  efficiency  and  kindness  ;  they  were  in  every 
way  as  good  as  a  trained  ambulance.  They  began  by 
clearing  the  house  of  the  accumulations  of  dirt  and 
pounded  bones,  and  keeping  up  large  and  cheerful  fires, 
which  produced  a  novel  sensation  of  comfort  among  their 
patients.  They  carried  in  the  pile  of  dried  wood  by 
the  riverside,  on  which  the  Englishmen  had  often  cast 
longing  eyes,  when  they  were  too  weak  to  drag  it  up 
the  bank.  Franklin  says  that  they  '  set  about  every- 
thing with  an  activity  that  amazed  us.  Indeed,  con- 
trasted with  our  emaciated  figures  and  extreme  debility, 
their  frames  appeared  to  us  gigantic  and  their  strength 
supernatural.     These  kind  creatures  next  turned  their 


JOHN  FRANKLIN 


37 


attention  to  our  personal  appearance,  and  prevailed 
upon  us  to  shave  and  wash  ourselves.  The  beards  of 
the  Doctor  and  Hepburn  had  been  untouched  since 


/uW 


'  Crooked-Foot  further  distinguished  himself  by  catching 
four  large  trout.' 

they  left  the  sea-coast,  and  were  become  of  a  hideous 
length,  and  peculiarly  offensive  to  the  Indians.'  Hep- 
bum  was  soon  getting  better,  and  Adam  recovered  his 
strength  with  amazing  rapidity. 

Next  day  Crooked-Foot  further  distinguished  him- 
self by  catching  four  large  trout  in  Winter  Lake,  which 


88   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

were  a  very  welcome  variety  of  food.  Then  the  weather 
changed  to  snow,  and  the  Indians  seemed  to  become 
despondent.  On  the  night  of  November  13  they 
silently  vanished  away  ;  but  in  two  days  Crooked-Foot 
reappeared,  bringing  with  him  two  others,  Thooee- 
Yorre  and  The  Fop,  whose  wives  also  came,  dragging 
a  cargo  of  provisions.  There  was  a  note  too  from 
Back,  who  with  his  party  was  setting  out  for  Fort 
Providence.  Franklin  at  once  resolved  to  do  the  same  ; 
and  on  November  16  the  start  was  made. 

Franklin  writes  feelingly  of  the  emotions  with 
which  he  and  his  friends  left  Fort  Enterprise,  where 
they  had  formerly  enjoyed  comfort  and  even  happiness, 
but  latterly  had  experienced  a  degree  of  misery  hardly 
to  be  paralleled.  '  The  Indians,'  he  adds,  '  treated  us 
with  the  utmost  tenderness,  gave  us  their  snow-shoes, 
and  walked  without  themselves,  keeping  by  our  sides 
that  they  might  lift  us  when  we  fell.  They  prepared 
our  encampment,  cooked  for  us,  and  fed  us  as  if  we 
had  been  children ;  evincing  humanity  that  would 
have  done  honour  to  the  most  civilised  people.' 

On  the  26th  they  reached  the  abode  of  Akaitcho, 
where  they  were  received  in  the  Chief's  tent  with  looks 
of  compassion  and  a  profound  silence  of  sympathy, 
which  lasted  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  Conversation  did 
not  begin  till  they  had  tasted  food  ;  and  Akaitcho 
showed  the  most  friendly  hospitality,  even  to  cooking 
with  his  own  hands,  an  office  which  he  never  per- 
formed for  himself.  His  brothers,  Annoethai-Yazzeh 
and  Humpy,  with  their  families,  also  came  in  to  express 
their  sympathy. 

On  December  1  the  party  set  out  again  under  escort 
of  the  Indians,  and  on  the  6th  they   were  met  by  a 


JOHN  FRANKLIN  39 

convoy  from  Fort  Providence    bringing  supplies  and 
some  letters  from  England.     By  these  they  learnt  of 
the  successful  termination  of  Captain  Parry's  voyage  ; 
and  of  the  promotion  of  Franklin  and  Back,  and  Hood 
too,    for   whom    this    news    made  them  grieve  afresh. 
Two    days    afterM'^ards,  after    a    long    conference    with 
Akaitcho  and  the  distribution  of  many  presents,  they 
took  leave  of  him  and  his  kind  and  faithful  Indians, 
and   pushed   on   in   dog   sledges   to   Fort   Providence. 
Akaitcho,  however,  with  his  whole  band,  rejoined  them 
there  on  December  14,  and  smoked  one  more  pipe  with 
them,   made  them  more  than  one  more  speech,   and 
ended  by  expressing  a  strong  desire  that  the  character 
of    his    nation    should    be    favourably    represented    in 
England.     '  I  know,'  he  said,  '  you  write  down  every 
occurrence   in   your   books ;    but   probably   you   have 
only  noticed  the  bad  things  we  have  said  and  done, 
and  have  omitted  to  mention  the  good.'     Next  day  the 
expedition  left  for  Moose-Deer  Island,  and  he  and  his 
men  bade  them  farewell,  with  a  warmth  of  manner 
rare  among  the  Indians. 

Franklin  and  his  party  rested  at  Moose-Deer  Island 
till  May  25,  and  nearly  regained  their  ordinary  health. 
Their  stores  arrived  from  the  coast,  and  they  were  thus 
enabled  to  send  full  payment  to  their  Indian  friends, 
with  an  additional  present  of  ammunition.  They  then 
left  for  Fort  Chipewyan,  and  finally  reached  York 
Factory  on  July  14,  1822,  having  been  three  years  all 
but  a  month  on  their  long,  fatiguing,  successful  and 
disastrous  expedition,  and  having  journeyed  in  Canada 
by  water  and  by  land  no  less  than  5550  miles. 


II.  RICHARD  BURTON 

1.  Ruffian  Dick 

Richard  Burton  was  born  in  Hertfordshire  on   March 

19,  1821.     His  father,  Lieut. -Colonel  Joseph  Netterville 

Burton  of  the  36th  Regt.,  was  an  Irishman.     Through 

his  mother  Richard  was  descended  from  the  MacGregors, 

and  he  also  inherited  a  strain  of  French  blood.     The 

result  of  this  combination  was  the  wild,  gipsy-looking 

boy  known  to  his  friends  as  Ruffian  Dick.     His  fiery, 

restless  nature  and  his  love  of  freedom  and  adventure 

were  encouraged  by  his  upbringing.     His  father,  like 

many  Irishmen,  wandered  about  from  place  to  place, 

and  Richard  spent  his  childhood  partly  in  France  and 

partly  in  Italy.     He  went  finally  to  Trinity  College, 

Oxford,  but  his  irregular  education  had  not  adapted 

him  for  University  life,  and  his  career  at  Oxford  ended 

in   his   being   '  sent   down.'      He   must   have   been   in 

many  ways  very  unlike  the  ordinary  English  youth  of 

his  age.     One  undergraduate  who  dared  to  laugh  at 

his  fierce  moustache  was  instantly  asked  to  name  his 

seconds. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-one  Richard  became  a  lieutenant 
in  the  18th  Bombay  Native  Infantry.  He  hated  the 
routine  life,  and  soon  succeeded  in  getting  appointed 
as  assistant  in  the  Survey  of  Sind.  This  gave  him  the 
very  opportunities  that  he  wanted.  He  had  already 
discovered  his  talent  for  languages  and  had  worked  at 

40 


RICHARD  BURTON  41 

Arabic  and  Hindiistdni.  He  now  set  himself  to  learn 
the  various  native  dialects,  Gujarati,  Marathi,  Multdni, 
and  also  Persian,  which  he  says  he  had  at  his  fingers' 
ends.  Besides  these  he  taught  himself  at  different 
times  Sanskrit,  Turkish,  Pushtu,  and  Armenian.  Then 
he  began  really  to  enjoy  life.  He  disguised  himself  as 
an  Oriental,  usually  as  a  half  Arab  half  Iranian,  with 
long  hair  and  beard,  and  hands,  arms,  and  feet  stained 
with  henna.  With  his  stock-in-trade  of  fine  linen, 
calicoes,  and  muslins  he  mixed  among  the  people  as  one 
of  themselves.  His  knowledge  of  manners  and  dress 
was  as  perfect  as  his  command  of  language,  and  he  was 
able  to  deceive  even  his  own  Persian  Munshi. 

He  was  seven  years  in  India,  and  during  this  time 
he  published  several  books,  of  which  perhaps  '  Scinde 
or  the  Unhappy  Valley  '  is  the  one  best  known. 

In  1850  a  combination  of  circumstances  resulted 
in  his  return  on  sick  leave  to  Europe.  While  in  London 
in  the  autumn  of  1852  he  decided  to  offer  his  services 
to  the  Royal  Geographical  Society.  He  had  long 
wished  to  make  the  famous  pilgrimage  to  Meccah  and 
at  the  same  time  to  explore  the  eastern  and  central 
regions  of  Arabia,  which  he  describes  at  that  time  as 
a  '  huge  white  blot  on  our  maps.'  He  succeeded  in 
getting  another  year's  furlough  from  India  '  to  pursue 
his  Arabic  studies,'  and  was  liberally  supplied  with  the 
means  of  travel  by  the  Royal  Geographical  Society, 
who  promised  to  do  all  they  could  to  help  him. 

Burton  resolved  to  resume  his  old  character  of  a 
Persian  wanderer.  He  wished  to  see  with  his  own 
eyes  Moslem  inner  life  in  a  really  Mohammedan  country. 
To  do  this  he  must  travel  as  a  born  believer  and  not 
as  a  convert.     A  '  New  Moslem  '  is  suspected  by  all. 


42   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

and  no  one  would  willingly  give  him   information  or 
hospitality. 

Determined  to  do  the  thing  thoroughly,  he  assumed 
his  disguise  in  London,  and  on  April  4,  1853,  a  Persian 
Prince  embarked  with  his  baggage  on  board  the  P.  and  O. 
Company's  steamer  Bengal.  Burton  spent  the  fortnight's 
voyage  in  practising  his  Oriental  manners — the  correctly 
uncomfortable  method  of  sitting  on  a  chair,  the  rolling 
gait  with  toes  straight  to  the  front,  the  grave  look,  and 
the  habit  of  pious  ejaculation.  A  whole  series  of  forms 
must  be  gone  through  before  a  good  Moslem  can  even 
pour  a  glass  of  water  down  his  throat,  and  a  single 
slip  in  etiquette  during  certain  stages  of  his  projected 
journey  would  be  almost  certain  to  cost  him  his  life. 

On  the  13th  day  Alexandria  was  reached,  and  the 
Persian  Prince  disembarked  and  proceeded  to  the 
house  of  an  English  friend  who  was  in  the  secret,  Mr. 
J.  W.  Larking.  He  was  lodged  in  an  outhouse  the 
better  to  deceive  the  servants,  and  spent  his  time  re- 
viving his  recollections  of  religious  ablutions,  reading 
the  Koran,  and  visiting  the  baths,  coffee-houses,  and 
bazars.  He  had  brought  with  him  various  phials 
and  pill-boxes  so  as  to  pass  as  a  doctor,  and  having 
cured  some  simple  ailments  among  his  neighbours  he 
soon  became  famous.  One  old  man  even  went  so  far 
as  to  offer  the  holy  doctor  his  daughter  in  marriage. 

After  a  month  spent  in  this  way  Burton  prepared 
to  become  a  wandering  Darwaysh.  This  is  a  disguise 
which  can  be  assumed  by  men  of  all  ranks,  ages,  and 
creeds,  for  it  has  the  great  advantage  that  the  wearer 
is  allowed  to  ignore  ceremony  to  a  great  extent ;  no 
one  asks  him  awkward  questions  ;  he  may  be  rich  or 
poor,  and  the  more  haughty  and  offensive  he  is  to  the 


RICHARD  BURTON  43 

people  the  more  they  respect  him.  When  in  great 
danger  he  can  pretend  to  be  mad  and  so  escape  detection. 
Then  came  the  question  of  a  passport,  and  here  Burton 
found  he  had  made  a  mistake  in  not  providing  himself 
with  one  before  he  left  London.  With  some  difficulty 
and  after  considerable  delay  he  eventually  obtained 
one  from  the  British  consul  at  Alexandria,  wherein 
he  was  described  as  an  Indo-British  subject  named 
Abdullah,  by  profession  a  doctor,  aged  thirty,  and  of 
ordinary  appearance.  This  document  had  then  to  be 
signed  by  the  Police  Magistrate,  a  most  lengthy  process 
needing  truly  Oriental  patience.  However,  after  three 
days  mostly  spent  sitting  in  the  sun  outside  various 
office  doors,  Dr.  Abdullah  obtained  official  permission 
to  visit  any  part  of  Egypt  and  to  retain  possession 
of  his  dagger  and  pistols. 

He  then  packed  up  his  various  necessaries,  a  tooth- 
stick,  a  piece  of  soap,  a  wooden  comb,  and  a  change  or 
two  of  clothing.  He  also  took  a  goatskin  water-bag, 
a  Persian  rug  to  act  as  couch,  chair,  table,  and  oratory, 
a  pillow,  a  blanket,  and  a  sheet,  which  was  to  serve  both 
as  tent  and  mosquito  curtain,  for  at  night  it  would  be 
pulled  right  over  the  head.  Darning  materials,  a  dagger, 
a  brass  inkstand,  a  huge  rosary,  and  a  pea-green  medicine 
chest  decorated  with  red  and  yellow  flowers  completed 
the  outfit.  Everything  except  the  bed  and  the  medicine 
chest  was  packed  in  a  pair  of  native  saddlebags,  and 
Dr.  Abdullah  then  went  to  inquire  when  the  local 
steamer  would  start  for  Cairo.  He  was  told  in  truly 
Oriental  fashion  to  call  every  evening  until  satisfied. 

At  length  about  the  end  of  May  a  boat  was  advertised, 
and  Burton  left  his  '  little  room  among  the  white  myrtle 
blossom  and  the  rosy  oleander,'  kissed  his  host's  hand, 


44   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

bade  adieu  to  his  numerous  patients,  and  climbed  into 
a  conveyance  which  he  describes  as  a  cross  between  a 
wheelbarrow  and  a  dog-cart,  and  drawn  by  a  kicking, 
jibbing,  and  biting  mule  he  set  out  for  the  steamer  that 
was  to  take  him  up  the  Nile  as  far  as  Cairo. 

This  voyage  should  have  taken  thirty  hours,  but 
lasted  instead  three  days  and  three  nights,  and  the 
'  Little  Asthmatic '  grounded  regularly  four  or  five 
times  between  sunrise  and  sunset  each  day.  Burton, 
who  had  taken  a  third-class  or  deck  passage,  was  any- 
thing but  comfortable.  '  A  roasting  sun,'  he  writes, 
'  pierced  the  canvas  awning  like  hot  water  through  a 
gauze  veil,  and  by  night  the  cold  dews  fell  raw  and  thick 
as  a  Scotch  mist.  The  cooking  was  abominable  and 
the  dignity  of  Darwaysh-hood  did  not  allow  me  to  sit 
at  meat  with  infidels  or  to  eat  the  food  which  they  had 
polluted.  So  the  Pilgrim  squatted  apart,  smoking 
perpetually  with  occasional  interruptions  to  say  his 
prayers  and  to  tell  his  beads  upon  the  mighty  rosary ; 
and  he  drank  the  muddy  water  of  the  canal  out  of  a 
leathern  bucket,  and  he  munched  his  bread  and  garlic 
with  desperate  sanctimoniousness.' 

The  ship  carried  a  numerous  and  motley  collection 
of  passengers,  including  two  English  officers  of  the 
Indian  Army,  some  Greeks,  Italians,  French,  and  Syrians. 
Burton  was  both  annoyed  and  pleased  when  one  of  the 
Englishmen  swore  at  the  Darwaysh  for  touching  his 
elbow  by  mistake,  little  dreaming  that  he  was  cursing 
a  brother  officer. 

Dr.  Abdullah  made  two  friends  on  board,  Haji 
Wali,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  again,  and  a  rather  dis- 
agreeable rascally  Indian  shawl  merchant  called  Khuda- 
bakhsh,  with  whom  he  was  persuaded  to  lodge  for  the 


'  One  of  the  Englishmen  swore  at  the  Darwayah.* 


46   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

first  ten  days  after  reaching  Cairo.  At  the  end  of  this 
time  he  decided  that  he  could  not  put  up  with  the  Indian 
any  longer,  and  that  in  spite  of  the  crowded  state  of  the 
town  he  must  move  to  a  Wakalah  or  inn.  Every  room 
in  the  usual  native  quarter  was  filled  with  pilgrims,  and 
Burton  had  to  resign  himself  to  the  Jamaliyah  or  Greek 
quarter.  Here,  however,  he  was  fortunate  in  meeting 
again  his  other  fellow  passenger  Haji  Wall.  They 
became  great  friends,  called  on  each  other  frequently, 
dined  together,  and  passed  the  evening  in  the  mosque 
or  other  public  building.  They  smoked  in  secret  the 
forbidden  weed  called  '  Hashish,'  and  held  long  conver- 
sations over  their  pipes. 

By  Haji  Wall's  advice  the  Darwaysh  laid  aside  his 
gown  and  blue  pantaloons  and  ceased  to  be  a  Persian. 
He  became  instead  a  Pathan,  born  in  India  of  Afghan 
parents  and  a  wanderer  from  early  youth.  He  put  on 
the  smooth  manners  of  an  Indian  physician  and  the 
dress  of  a  gentleman  while  still  representing  himself 
as  a  Darwaysh.  '  What  business,'  asked  the  Haji, 
'  have  those  reverend  men  with  politics  or  statistics  or 
any  of  the  information  which  you  are  collecting  ?  Call 
yourself  a  religious  wanderer  if  you  like,  and  let  those 
who  ask  the  object  of  your  peregrinations  know  that 
you  are  under  a  vow  to  visit  all  the  holy  places  of  Al- 
Islara.  Thus  you  will  persuade  them  that  you  are  a 
man  of  rank  under  a  cloud,  and  you  will  receive  much 
more  civility  than  perhaps  you  deserve,'  he  ended, 
laughing.  Burton  never  regretted  having  followed 
Haji  Wall's  advice,  which  probably  saved  him  from 
many  small  difficulties. 

During  his  stay  in  Cairo  the  Indian  doctor  practised 
his   art  with   some  success.     He  began  by  curing   an 


RICHARD  BURTON  47 

Abyssinian  slave  who  was  ill  in  the  Wakalah,  and  then 
had  to  dose  half  a  dozen  others  to  cure  them  of  snoring, 
a  disagreeable  habit  which  lowered  their  price  in  the 
market.     After    this    he    became    known    outside    the 


'  He  became  instead  a  Pathan.' 

inn,  and  was  even  more  successful  as  a  physician  than 
he  had  been  at  Alexandria. 

He  soon  decided  that  he  must  engage  a  servant. 
He  summoned  a  Shaykh  who  supplies  such  wants, 
and  on  the  following  day  he  selected  from  among  those 
sent  a  Beriberi  by  name  Ali,  whom  he  engaged.  Within 
a  fortnight  Ali  stabbed  a  fellow  servant  and  had  to  be 
dismissed.    Many  other  Egyptian  servants  were  tried* 


48      THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

but  each  had  some  incurable  vice,  and  finally  Burton 
decided  to  keep  only  an  Indian  boy,  Shaykh  Nur  by 
name.  His  next  care  was  to  provide  himself  according 
to  custom  with  a  teacher  with  whom  to  study  Theology 
during  his  stay  in  Cairo.  He  found  an  old  druggist 
called  Shaykh  Mohammed,  who  suited  him  very  well, 
and  who  might  have  walked  straight  out  of  an  '  Arabian 
Nights '  tale.  His  shop  front  was  a  hole  pierced  in  the 
wall  of  a  house  ;  the  shop  itself  was  about  5  feet  long 
and  6  feet  deep,  and  was  divided  into  two  compart- 
ments. The  inner  one  served  as  store-room  and  lumber- 
room,  and  in  the  outer  one  were  displayed  such  scanty 
wares  as  the  Shaykh  provided.  The  whole  place  was 
as  dirty  and  ramshackle  as  can  be  imagined,  and  the 
old  man  himself,  who  owned  that  he  knew  nothing  about 
drugs,  never  combed  his  rough  grey  beard,  and  his  hands 
always  looked  filthy  in  spite  of  the  frequent  washings 
required  of  the  faithful  believer.  He  seldom  had  a 
customer  beyond  the  few  children  who  brought  farthings 
for  pepper  and  sugar,  and  he  spent  the  greater  part 
of  the  day  asleep  on  his  dirty  flea-inhabited  palmstick 
stool. 

Burton  spent  a  long  time  in  Cairo,  as  he  had  to  remain 
there  throughout  the  Ramazan  or  month  of  fasting,  which 
befell  that  year  in  June.  The  daily  routine  of  this 
period  of  fasting  is  very  strict.  No  food  must  be  taken 
after  the  early  breakfast  at  about  1  a.m.  until  supper, 
which  is  not  eaten  till  after  sunset.  Between  these 
hours  many  prayers  and  many  washings  have  to  be 
gone  through,  and  life  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
afternoon  with  a  blazing  sun  overhead  and  an  empty 
stomach  within  is  painfully  unpleasant.  After  sunset 
everyone    forgets    his    miseries  and    crowds   as  much 


RICHARD  BURTON  49 

enjoyment  into  the  evening  as  he  can.  On  the  last 
day  of  the  Ramazan  alms  are  given  to  the  poor,  and 
after  a  special  service  and  sermon  at  the  mosque  all 
are  free  once  more  to  enjoy  the  ordinary  pleasures  of 
existence.  Dr.  Abdullah  and  his  friend  the  Haji  went 
about  the  city  to  visit  their  friends  and  pay  them  the 
compliment  of  the  season,  which  corresponds  in  many 
ways  to  our  New  Year.  '  Every  year  may  you  be 
well,'  says  the  believer  as  he  firmly  hugs  the  friend 
(or  enemy  as  the  case  may  be)  whom  he  chances  to  meet, 
and  lays  his  face  cheek  to  cheek,  making  at  the  same 
time  a  loud  noise  of  many  kisses  in  the  air. 

During  the  Ramazan  Burton  had  laid  in  his  stores 
for  the  journey  :  tea,  coffee,  loaf  sugar,  rice,  dates, 
biscuits,  oil,  vinegar,  tobacco,  lanterns,  and  cooking- 
pots,  a  small  bell-shaped  tent,  and  three  water-skins 
for  the  desert.  The  provisions  were  packed  in  a  '  Kafas  ' 
or  hamper  and  in  a  huge  wooden  box  called  a  Sahharah. 
This  box,  which  was  about  three  feet  square,  was  covered 
with  leather  and  had  a  small  lid  fitting  into  the  top  so 
that  in  case  of  a  fall  off  the  camel's  back  the  contents 
would  not  be  likely  to  tumble  out.  Burton's  money — 
he  took  about  £80  in  cash — was  distributed  between 
himself,  Shaykh  Nur,  and  the  baggage.  He  divided 
it  in  this  way  because  it  was  more  than  likely  that  at 
some  time  or  another  the  pilgrims  would  be  attacked  and 
plundered  by  the  Badawin,  the  wild  men  of  the  desert, 
and  if  these  thieves  find  a  certain  amount  of  money  in 
the  baggage  of  a  respectable  man  they  refrain  from 
searching  his  person. 

When  all  these  matters  were  arranged,  the  Alex- 
andrian passport  had  to  be  vised  both  at  the  Police 
Office   and   by  the   Consul.     This  was   again   a   most 


50   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

lengthy  and  troublesome  business,  but  with  Haji  WaU's 
help  it  was  accomplished,  and  eventually  Dr.  Abdullah 
bade  farewell  to  his  friends,  telling  them  by  way  of 
precaution  that  he  was  going  to  Meccah  via  Jeddah, 
whereas  he  meant  if  possible  to  go  first  to  Al-Madinah 
via  Yambii.  '  Conceal,'  says  the  Arabs'  proverb,  '  thy 
Tenets,  thy  Treasure,  and  thy  Travelling.' 

2.  The  Voyage   of    The   Golden  Thread 

Haji  Wall  and  the  old  druggist  accompanied  the 
traveller  to  the  city  gate,  where  they  said  goodbye 
once  more,  and  Burton,  feeling  that  he  was  now  indeed 
setting  out  into  the  unknown,  kicked  his  dromedary 
into  a  jog-trot  so  as  to  keep  ahead  of  the  Badawin 
drivers  who  went  with  him.  But  he  had  eighty-four 
miles  of  desert  before  him  and  a  blazing  midsummer 
sun  overhead,  and  soon  dropped  into  a  more  comfortable 
pace.  The  camel-drivers  began  to  smoke  and  ask 
questions  to  pass  the  time.  When  they  were  tired  of 
this  they  talked  about  food,  a  topic  of  supreme  interest 
to  all  travellers  whether  at  the  South  Pole  or  at  the 
Equator ;  when  this  subject  too  was  exhausted  they 
began  to  sing  of  cool  shades  and  bubbling  streams 
and  other  delights  far  removed  from  the  hot  and  dusty 
present. 

Towards  sunset  Burton  turned  off  the  road  to  halt 
for  supper.  Suddenly  he  was  saluted  by  a  strange 
figure  who  rose  in  the  dusk  from  a  little  hollow  where 
he  had  been  lying.  After  the  first  surprise  Burton 
recognised  him  as  Mohammed  al-Basyuni,  a  Meccan 
boy  from  whom  he  had  bought  his  pilgrim  dress  in 
Cairo  and  whose  companionship  he  had  then  for  various 
reasons  refused.     Now,    however,   the   boy,  who  was 


RICHARD  BURTON  51 

penniless  and  meant  to  attach  himself  to  the  rich  doctor, 
insisted  on  making  the  camel  kneel  while  Burton 
dismounted,  and  he  then  took  off  his  slippers,  brought 
him  water  to  wash  with,  and  humbly  stood  behind 
him  while  he  said  his  prayers.  He  then  lit  a  pipe  which 
he  handed  to  Burton,  while  he  himself  rummaged  in 
the  saddlebags  for  food.  He  brought  out  water-melons, 
boiled  eggs  and  dates,  and  lit  a  fire  to  make  the  coffee. 
His  own  meagre  store  of  provisions  he  distributed 
among  the  camel  men,  to  their  great  annoyance  and 
disgust.  They  were  still  more  annoyed  when  they 
discovered  that  Dr.  Abdullah  was  not  the  soft  Effendi 
they  had  supposed,  but  meant  to  travel  all  that  night. 
They  had  counted  on  the  journey  lasting  at  least  three 
days,  during  which  time  they  would  get  their  food 
gratis,  and  they  tried  every  sort  of  manoeuvre  to  delay 
the  party,  but  without  success. 

Towards  midnight  another  halt  was  made,  and  the 
travellers  slept  for  an  hour  or  two  under  their  sheets 
to  protect  themselves  from  the  heavy  dew  and  from  the 
bright  moonlight,  believed  by  all  Easterns  to  have  an 
evil  effect  on  the  sleeper. 

When  the  Wolf's  tail — as  the  Persians  call  the 
first  grey  light  of  dawn — showed  in  the  sky,  they 
set  forth  once  more  through  the  early  morning  haze, 
startling  noisy  coveys  of  Kata  or  sandgrouse  as  they 
went,  and  occasionally  a  stray  gazelle.  They  added  a 
rag  to  the  hundreds  already  hanging  on  the  Pilgrim's 
tree  by  the  wayside,  said  a  prayer,  and  pushed  on 
throughout  another  scorching  day. 

In  the  afternoon  they  rested  for  a  short  time  in 
the  scanty  shade  of  a  mimosa.  A  party  of  Maghrabi 
pilgrims  were  also  halting  here,  and  Burton,  pitying 


52   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

their  miserable,  half-starved  condition,  ordered  a  pint 
of  water  and  a  little  bread  to  be  served  out  to  each  man. 
The  pilgrims  expressed  their  gratitude  by  rudely- 
demanding  money,  at  the  same  time  referring  to  their 
knives.  Burton  had  to  produce  his  pistols  to  keep 
them  quiet. 

Just  after  sunset,  when  the  desert  is  tinged  with 
magic  colours  and  full  of  deep  mysterious  shadows, 
the  travellers  were  cheered  by  the  sight  of  the  sea  in 
front  of  them.  But  it  was  quite  dark  before  they 
rode  into  Suez,  and  after  a  long  search  discovered  the 
inn  where  Shaykh  Nur,  who  had  started  two  days  earlier 
with  the  baggage,  had  taken  rooms.  Burton's  troubles 
were  not  yet  ended,  for  the  door  was  locked  and  no 
servant  to  be  seen.  Tired  and  aching  in  every  bone, 
he  had  to  find  a  room  elsewhere  for  the  night.  Shaykh 
Nur  turned  up  next  day,  just  as  Burton,  by  special 
permission  of  the  Turkish  Governor,  was  preparing  to 
break  open  the  door.  He  said  he  had  been  led  away 
by  some  Lascar  sailors,  and  made  such  a  show  of  peni- 
tence that  he  escaped  his  well-deserved  beating. 

The  inn  where  Burton  lodged  was  dirty  and  com- 
fortless and  overrun  with  cockroaches,  ants,  and  flies 
innumerable.  Pigeons  lived  among  the  rafters,  and 
cats,  goats,  and  even  donkeys  passed  in  and  out  of  the 
rooms  as  they  pleased.  The  travellers  lay  about  on 
rugs  and  smoked  or  inspected  each  other's  baggage. 
The  party  among  whom  Burton  found  himself  consisted 
of  Omar  Effendi,  a  little  fat  yellow-faced  student  on 
his  way  back  to  his  home  at  Al-Madinah,  whose 
parents  had  sent  a  confidential  negro  servant,  Sa'ad  al 
Jinni,  or  the  Demon,  to  fetch  him  home,  if  necessary  by 
force;    Shaykh  Hamid  al  Sammam,  whose  nickname 


RICHARD  BURTON  53 

signifies  '  the  Clarified-Butter-Sellcr,'  the  title  of  a  well- 
known  saint  from  whom  he  claimed  descent ;  and  Salih 
Shakkar,  a  greedy,  selfish  youth,  half  Turk  half  Arab,  who 
gave  himself  great  airs  and  who  later  on  at  Al-Madinah 
cut  Dr.  Abdullah  altogether.  These  men  had  a  twelve 
days'  voyage  and  four  days'  journey  across  the  desert 
in  front  of  them  and  could  only  muster  in  all  about  two 
dollars  in  cash.  They  had  plenty  of  valuables  in  kind, 
but  would  not  dream  of  parting  with  these,  and  came 
instead  to  Dr.  Abdullah  to  beg  for  a  loan.  He  saw  that 
their  friendship  would  be  useful  to  him  and  so  agreed 
to  lend  them  a  small  sum  each,  tor  which  he  accepted 
various  gifts  in  return,  knowing  well  that  he  would  never 
sec  his  mone)'^  back.  His  debtors  then  became  quite 
affectionate,  and  decided,  as  Haji  Wall  had  foretold, 
that  Dr.  Abdullah  was  a  great  man  under  a  cloud. 
They  asked  him  to  take  his  meals  with  them,  consulted 
him  on  every  occasion,  and  carefully  examined  all  his 
clothes  and  belongings.  This  was  the  only  time  that 
Dr.  Abdullah  was  suspected  by  his  friends  of  being  an 
infidel  in  disguise.  When  they  saw  his  sextant  their 
faces  changed,  and  as  soon  as  he  left  the  room  the  boy 
Mohammed,  whose  sharp  wits  Burton  had  originally 
mistrusted,  declared  that  their  fellow  pilgrim  was  one 
of  the  infidels  from  India.  Fortunately  he  was  un- 
supported. Omar  Effendi  had  slyly  read  a  letter  written 
that  morning  by  Dr.  Abdullah  to  his  friend  Haji  Wali, 
and  felt  convinced  the  writer  was  no  infidel.  Shaykh 
Hamid,  who  looked  forward  to  having  the  rich  doctor 
as  his  guest  at  Al-Madinah,  swore  that  the  light  of  Islam 
was  upon  his  countenance,  and  the  boy  Mohammed 
was  generally  abused  and  told  to  '  fear  Allah.'  How- 
ever, Burton  reluctantly  decided  to  leave  his  sextant 


54   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

behind,  and  he  prayed  five  times  a  day  for  the  next  week 
to  impress  his  companions. 

The  usual  passport  difficulties  recurred,  and  were 
settled  eventually  with  the  help  of  the  British  Vice- 
Consul,  Mr.  West,  who  had  been  warned  to  expect 
Burton,  and  who  cleverly  saw  through  his  disguise  and 
by  his  firmness  prevailed  on  the  Turkish  Bey  to  put 
Dr.  Abdullah's  papers  in  order. 

The  rest  of  the  party  had  meanwhile  secured  places 
for  themselves  and  Burton  on  the  poop  of  The  Golden 
Thread,  a  fifty-ton  sailing  vessel,  undecked  except  for 
the  poop,  and  without  compass,  sounding  lines,  spare 
ropes,  or  chart.  She  was  anchored  three  or  four  miles 
from  the  Suez  pier,  and  her  passengers  had  to  embark 
in  skiffs  or  shore  boats.  The  confusion  was  very  great. 
'  Suppose  us  gathered  upon  the  beach,'  writes  Burton, 
'  on  the  morning  of  a  fiery  July  day,  carefully  watching 
our  hurriedly  packed  goods  and  chattels,  surrounded 
by  a  mob  of  idlers,  who  are  not  too  proud  to  pick  up 
waifs  and  strays  ;  whilst  pilgrims  are  rushing  about 
apparently  mad,  and  friends  are  weeping,  acquaintances 
are  vociferating  adieux,  boatmen  are  demanding  fees, 
shopmen  are  claiming  debts,  women  are  shrieking 
and  talking  with  inconceivable  power,  and  children 
are  crying, — in  short  for  an  hour  or  so  we  stand  in  the 
thick  of  a  human  storm.  To  confound  confusion  the 
boatmen  have  moored  their  skiff  half  a  dozen  yards 
away  from  the  shore,  lest  the  porters  should  be  able 
to  make  more  than  double  their  fare  from  the  Hajis. 
Again  the  Turkish  women  make  a  hideous  noise  as  they 
are  carried  off  struggling  vainly  in  brawny  arms  ;  the 
children  howl  because  their  mothers  howl ;  and  the 
men  scold  and  swear,  because  in  such  scenes  none  may 


RICHARD  BURTON  55 

be  silent.  The  moment  we  had  embarked,  each  in- 
dividual found  that  he  or  she  had  missed  something 
of  vital  importance — a  pipe,  a  child,  a  box,  or  a  water- 
melon ;  and  naturally  all  the  servants  were  in  the 
bazars  when  they  should  have  been  in  the  boat.  Briefly, 
despite  the  rage  of  the  sailors,  who  feared  being  too 
late  for  a  second  trip,  we  stood  some  time  on  the  beach 
before  putting  off.' 

When  they  arrived  on  board  The  Golden  Thread 
they  found  an  even  worse  pandemonium,  the  hold  was 
piled  with  human  beings  and  luggage,  and  more  and 
more  Arabs  were  pouring  over  the  sides.  The  owner 
had  greedily  given  places  to  ninety-seven  instead  of 
to  only  sixty  passengers  as  promised  at  first,  and  even 
the  poop  was  occupied.  Presently  Sa'ad  the  Demon, 
who  had  got  himself  up  as  an  able  seaman  to  escape 
having  to  pay  for  his  passage,  came  on  board  and  pre- 
pared for  action.  The  intruders  on  the  poop  and  their 
boxes  were  speedily  pushed  off  into  the  crowd  below,  and 
Dr.  Abdullah  and  his  friends  and  four  other  travellers, 
besides  the  captain  and  some  of  the  crew — making 
eighteen  persons  in  all — settled  down  to  live  on  a  space 
about  ten  feet  by  eight  feet.  The  tiny  cabin,  a  box 
about  three  feet  high,  was  full  of  women  and  children, 
fifteen  in  number.  Burton  tried  to  make  himself  more 
comfortable  by  appropriating  the  use  of  a  sailor's  cot 
slung  over  the  side  of  the  ship,  for  which  he  paid  a 
dollar.  But  he  did  not  really  fare  much  better  than 
the  others. 

There  was  a  great  deal  of  fighting  among  the 
Mahgrabi  pilgrims  in  the  hold.  Daggers  were  drawn, 
and  five  men  were  very  badly  wounded.  This 
frightened  the  rabble,  who  decided  to  send  a  deputation 


56   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

on  shore  to  AH  Murad,  the  owner  of  the  ship.  Three 
hours  later  this  individual  appeared  in  a  small  boat, 
which  kept  its  distance  while  he  shouted  out  that 
anyone  who  liked  might  leave  the  ship  and  take  back 
his  fare.  No  one  would  do  this,  so  Ali  Murad  went  back 
to  Suez,  telling  them  all  to  be  good  and  not  fight,  but  to 
trust  in  Allah,  who  would  make  things  easy  for  them. 
After  this  there  was  a  second  fight,  and  the  party  on  the 
poop  had  to  defend  themselves  with  thick  ashen  staves 
provided  by  Sa'ad  the  Demon,  who  fought  furiously 
both  with  words  and  blows.  Presently  Burton  noticed 
a  huge  earthen  water  jar  standing  on  the  edge  of  the 
poop,  and  seizing  a  favourable  moment  he  tipped  it 
over  on  to  tlfe  crowd  below.  The  jar  broke  into  many 
pieces,  and  the  Mahgrabis,  bruised  and  drenched  by 
this  unexpected  onslaught,  retired  to  the  other  end  of 
the  ship.  After  a  few  minutes  a  deputation  came  to 
beg  for  peace,  which  was  granted  on  condition  that  they 
pledged  themselves  to  keep  it. 

At  last,  at  about  2  p.m.  on  July  6,  The  Golden 
Thread  set  sail,  and  Burton  saw  the  British  flag  over 
the  Consul's  house  grow  smaller  and  smaller  in  the 
distance  as  he  left  Egypt  behind  him.  '  I  had  lived 
there,'  he  writes,  '  a  stranger  in  the  land,  and  a  hapless 
life  it  had  been  :  in  the  streets  every  man's  face  as  he 
looked  upon  the  Persian  was  the  face  of  a  foe.  When- 
ever I  came  in  contact  with  the  native  officials,  insolence 
marked  the  event,  and  the  circumstance  of  living  within 
hail  of  my  fellow  countrymen  and  yet  finding  it 
impossible  to  enjoy  their  society  still  throws  a  gloom 
over  the  memory  of  my  first  sojourning  in  Egypt.' 

At  sunset  the  ship  anchored  for  the  night.  She 
sailed  again  early  in  the  morning,  and  after  a  breakfast 


RICHARD  BURTON  57 

of  hard  biscuits — the  provision  box  being  in  the  hold 
and  quite  unapproachable — ^Burton  betook  himself 
to  his  hanging  cot,  where  he  was  constantly  drenched 
with  spray  and  dared  not  sleep  for  fear  of  tumbling 
overboard.  That  night  the  party  from  the  poop 
supped  and  slept  on  shore  in  comfort  in  Pharaoh's 
Bay,  and  dreamt  of  the  fresh  dates  they  should  eat 
on  the  morrow  in  the  harbour  of  Tur.  But  daybreak 
found  the  ship  stranded.  The  tide  had  ebbed  in  the 
night  and  left  her  high  and  dry.  No  amount  of  pushing 
had  the  least  effect  until  after  nine  o'clock,  when  the 
water  had  risen  a  little  and  a  final  effort  on  the  part 
of  all  the  pilgrims  directed  by  Burton  was  successful. 

It  was  noon  before  all  were  once  more  on  board 
and  The  Golden  Thread  sailed  with  a  fair  wind. 
They  did  not  reach  Tur  until  noon  of  the  following  day. 

A  fleecy  cloud  hung  over  the  hills  when  they  arrived, 
and  the  captain  predicted  a  storm  ;  but  with  sweet 
water  to  drink,  dates,  grapes,  and  pomegranates  to  eat, 
and  the  various  sights  of  this  old  Phoenician  colony  to 
be  visited.  Burton  did  not  at  all  mind  the  prospect  of 
delay. 

They  did  not  leave  Tur  till  the  morning  of  the  11th 
when  the  storm  was  over,  and  the  next  thirty-six  hours 
were  spent  on  board  without  a  break.  This  was  a  trial 
even  to  the  natives.  Omar  Effendi  and  Salih  Shakkar 
both  fell  ill  and  even  the  boy  Mohammed  ceased  to 
chatter  and  scold.  In  spite  of  their  own  troubles  they 
each  took  their  turn  at  nursing  a  miserable  Turkish 
baby  to  relieve  the  poor  mother,  to  whom  they  showed 
every  consideration  out  of  genuine  kindness  of  heart 
and  politeness.  Salih  Shakkar  was  the  only  ex- 
ception. 


58   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

Towards  evening  the  breeze  grew  cooler.  The 
travellers  revived  and  ate  a  scanty  supper  of  rice  and 
dates,  followed  by  songs  and  story -telling  until  bedtime. 

Marsd  Damghah,  the  next  mooring-place,  was 
reached  at  sunset  on  the  12th  ;  Al-Wijh  on  the  13th. 
All  the  next  day  the  ship  threaded  her  way  among 
coral  reefs  and  narrowly  escaped  frequent  accidents. 
The  sea  here  was  very  clear  and  of  many  wonderful 
colours,  and  the  rocks  were  thronged  with  gulls  and 
terns.  By  moonlight  the  scene  was  even  more  beautiful, 
for  wherever  the  sea  touched  the  rocks  it  was  lit  by  what 
the  Arabs  call  '  the  jewels  of  the  deep  ' — brilliant  flashes 
of  phosphorescence  which  they  suppose  to  come  from 
the  necklaces  of  the  mermaids  and  mermen. 

Whilst  wading  ashore  at  Marsa  Mahar,  the  next 
landing-place,  Burton  ran  the  prickle  of  a  sea  urchin 
into  his  foot,  and  though  he  thought  very  little  of  it 
at  the  time  it  soon  became  inflamed  and  painful,  and  did 
not  heal  until  after  he  returned  to  Egypt.  All  tempers 
were  the  worse  for  the  prolonged  strain,  but  at  last, 
about  noon  on  the  12th  day  after  leaving  Suez,  Yambu 
was  reached,  and  the  travellers  said  goodbye  to  The 
Golden  Thread  with  reviving  spirits. 

3.  Caravanning  in  the  Hijaz 

Yambii  is  the  port  for  Al-Madinah  as  Jeddah  is  for 
Meccah,  and  it  does  a  considerable  trade  in  grain,  dates, 
and  henna.  It  marks  the  third  quarter  of  the  caravan 
road  from  Cairo  to  Meccah.  The  authority  of  the 
Pasha  of  Egypt  here  ceases,  and  the  Sultan's  dominion 
begins.  The  town  stands  on  the  edge  of  a  sunburnt 
plain,  and  is  one  of  the  few  towns  in  this  part  of  Al- 
Hijaz  where  there  is  sweet  rain-water  to  drink.    This 


RICHARD  BURTON 


59 


is  collected  among  the  hills  in  tanks  and  cisterns  and 
brought  down  on  the  backs  of  camels. 

Burton's  foot  had  become  very  painful  from  the 


/t.W 


'  This  curtained  wicker  erection,  called  a  Shugdur,  is  strapped 
onto  the  dromedary's  back.' 

effect  of  the  sun  and  the  sea-water,  and  he  could  hardly 
put  it  to  the  ground.  But  he  was  determined  to  see 
all  that  was  to  be  seen,  and  went  off  leaning  on  his 
servant's  shoulder,  while  the  rest  of  the  party  saw  the 
luggage  through  the  customs.  He  made  his  lameness 
an  excuse  for  buying  a  litter  in  which  to  travel  on  to 
Al-Madinah.      This  curtained  wicker  erection,  called  a 


60   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

Shugduf,is  strapped  onto  the  dromedary's  back,  and  from 
inside  Burton  would  find  it  easier  to  take  notes  unseen. 

He  hired  two  animals,  one  for  his  luggage  and 
his  servant  and  the  other  for  himself  and  the  boy- 
Mohammed.  For  these  he  agreed  to  pay  three  dollars 
apiece,  half  in  ready  money  and  the  other  half  on  arrival. 
He  and  his  party  were  to  travel  on  the  following  evening 
with  a  grain  caravan  and  a  Turkish  escort. 

The  camels  arrived  at  the  gate  at  noon.  There 
was  the  usual  trouble  in  loading  them,  but  by  3  o'clock 
all  was  ready  and  the  camels  were  formed  up  in  line. 
By  this  time  all  the  men  had  dispersed  about  the  town, 
and  it  was  late  in  the  afternoon  before  the  travellers 
mounted.  '  At  6  p.m.,'  writes  Burton,  '  descending 
the  stairs  of  our  Wakalah,  we  found  the  camels  standing 
loaded  in  the  street  and  shifting  their  ground  in  token 
of  impatience.  My  Shugduf,  perched  upon  the  back 
of  a  tall,  strong  animal,  nodded  and  swayed  about 
with  his  every  motion,  impressing  me  with  the  idea 
that  the  first  step  would  throw  it  over  the  shoulders 
or  the  crupper.  The  camel  man  told  me  I  must  climb 
up  the  animal's  neck,  and  so  creep  into  the  vehicle. 
But  my  foot  disabling  me  from  such  exertion,  I  insisted 
upon  their  bringing  the  beast  to  squat,  which  they  did 
grumblingly.  We  took  leave  of  Omar  Effendi's  brothers 
and  their  dependents,  who  insisted  upon  paying  us  the 
compliment  of  accompanying  us  to  the  gate.  Then 
we  mounted  and  started,  which  was  a  signal  for  all 
our  party  to  disperse  once  more.' 

A  rumour  was  heard  of  a  vessel  having  arrived 
from  Suez  with  friends  on  board,  and  many  of  the 
pilgrims  rushed  down  to  the  harbour.  Others  went 
off  to  fetch  some  forgotten  necessary  or  to  snatch  a 


RICHARD  BURTON  61 

last  hour's  gossip  in  a  cafe.  '  Then  the  sun  set,  and 
prayers  must  be  said.  The  brief  tAvilight  had  ahnost 
faded  away  before  all  had  mounted.  With  loud  cries 
of  "  Wassit,  ya  hii  ! — Go  in  the  middle  of  the  road, 
O  He  !  "  and  "  Jannib,  y'al  Jammal  !— Keep  to  the 
side  O  camel-man  !  "  we  threaded  our  way  through 
long,  dusty,  narrow  streets,  flanked  with  white-washed 
habitations  at  considerable  intervals,  and  large  heaps 
of  rubbish,  sometimes  higher  than  the  houses.' 

There  was  a  delicious  freshness  in  the  air  when  at 
last  they  passed  through  the  city  gate  out  of  the  dark 
streets  into  the  dazzling  light  of  the  full  moon  across 
the  rugged  plain. 

Burton's  party  consisted  of  tw^elve  camels,  and 
they  travelled  in  Indian  file,  head  tied  to  tail.  Omar 
Effendi,  mounted  on  a  dromedary  with  showy  trappings 
as  befitted  his  rank,  rode  alongside.  The  others  in  their 
shabbiest,  coarsest  clothes  sat  up  or  dozed  on  the  lids 
of  their  luggage-boxes.  The  caravan  consisted  of  200 
camels  carrying  grain  together  with  their  owners  and 
a  mounted  escort  of  seven  Turkish  cavalry  to  defend 
them  from  the  Badawin  and  from  Sa'ad,  the  Old  Man 
of  the  Mountains,  of  whom  many  fearsome  tales  were 
told. 

At  3  A.M.  they  halted,  having  travelled  only  about 
sixteen  miles  in  the  eight  hours.  Rugs  were  spread 
on  the  ground,  and  everyone  slept  till  9  o'clock.  Then, 
after  breakfast  and  a  smoke  and  mutual  congratula- 
tions on  finding  themselves  once  more  in  the  '  dear 
desert,'  they  slept  again  till  2  p.m.,  and  w^ere  ready  to 
march  at  3. 

At  dusk  there  was  a  cry  of  '  Harami '  (thieves), 
which  caused  great  confusion  among  the  camel  men  ; 


62   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

but  the  thieves  were  cowards  and  few  in  number, 
and  ran  away  when  the  first  bullets  were  fired  in  their 
direction.  Worse  things,  however,  were  to  be  expected, 
and  the  spirits  of  the  travellers  fell.  They  were  much 
relieved  when  on  the  21st,  at  Al-Hamra,  they  joined  up 
with  a  big  caravan  on  its  way  to  Al-Madinah  from 
Meccah. 

That  night  there  was  a  sudden  halt,  caused  by  a 
band  of  Badawin,  who  blocked  the  mouth  of  a  gorge 
in  the  hills  and  ordered  the  caravan  to  stop,  demanding 
money  before  it  might  pass  on.  When  they  discovered 
that  the  travellers  were  pilgrims  the  Badawin  allowed 
them  to  pass  on  condition  that  all  the  soldiers  went 
back.  The  escort,  200  strong,  promptly  turned  their 
horses'  heads  round  and  made  for  home,  and  the  caravan 
moved  on  without  even  seeing  the  robbers.  Burton's 
camel-man  pointed  to  their  haunts  in  the  hills  and 
asked  him  with  a  sneer  :  '  Why  don't  you  load  your 
pistols,  Effendi,  and  get  out  of  your  litter,  and  show 
fight  ?  '  '  Because,'  replied  Burton  equally  loudly, 
'  in  my  country  when  dogs  run  at  us,  we  thrash  them 
with  sticks.'  The  camel-man  was  silenced  for  the  time 
being. 

At  four  in  the  morning  they  reached  Bir  Abbas, 
having  travelled  eighty-eight  miles  since  leaving 
Yambu.  The  camping  ground  here  was  a  bed  of  loose 
sand,  and  the  air  was  thick  with  it.  There  was  not  a 
tree  or  a  bush  to  be  seen,  and  the  only  live  creatures 
were  locusts  and  swarms  of  flies.  This  day,  July  22, 
was  a  trial  to  everyone's  temper,  and  there  were  many 
quarrels  and  disputes  about  trifles.  A  small  caravan 
came  in  during  the  morning  with  two  dead  bodies  ; 
one  man  had  been  shot  by  the  Badawin  and  the  other 


RICHARD  BURTON  63 

had  died  of  sunstroke  or  the  fiery  wind.  Another 
caravan  hurried  by  soon  after  midday.  It  was  on  its 
way  to  Meccah  and  seemed  in  undue  haste. 

Burton's  party  grew  more  and  more  anxious  about 
themselves  and  their  valuables,  especially  when  towards 
evening  a  distant  sound  of  firing  was  heard.  They 
told  him  the  hill  men  and  the  troops  were  fighting,  but 
Burton  was  more  than  ever  impatient  to  go  forward. 
After  supper  they  all  sat  and  smoked  together  in  the 
cool  night  air,  and  frightened  themselves  as  usual  with 
tales  of  Shaykh  Sa*ad,  the  Old  Man  of  the  Mountains. 

'  The  next  day,'  writes  Burton,  '  was  a  forced  halt, 
a  sore  stimulant  to  the  travellers'  ill-humour ;  and 
the  sun,  the  sand,  the  dust,  the  furious  Siimiim,  and 
the  want  of  certain  small  supplies  aggravated  our 
grievance.  My  sore  foot  had  been  inflamed  by  a  dressing 
of  onion  skin  which  the  lady  Maryam  (a  fellow  pilgrim) 
had  insisted  upon  applying  to  it.  Still  being  resolved 
to  push  forward  by  any  conveyance  that  could  be 
procured,  I  offered  ten  dollars  for  a  fresh  dromedary 
to  take  me  on  to  Al-Madinah.  Shaykh  Hamid  also 
declared  he  would  leave  his  box  in  charge  of  a  friend 
and  accompany  me.  Sa'ad  the  Demon  flew  into  a 
passion  at  the  idea  of  any  member  of  the  party  escaping 
the  general  evil ;  and  he  privily  threatened  Mohammed 
to  cut  off  the  legs  of  any  camel  that  ventured  into  camp. 
This,  the  boy — who,  like  a  boy  of  the  world  as  he  was, 
never  lost  an  opportunity  of  making  mischief — in- 
stantly communicated  to  me,  and  it  brought  on  a  furious 
dispute.  Sa'ad  was  reproved  and  apologised  for  by 
the  rest  of  the  party  ;  and  presently  he  himself  was 
pacified,  principally,  I  believe,  by  the  intelligence 
that  no  camel  was  to  be  hired  at  Bir  Abbas.' 


64   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

About  sunset  on  July  23  came  a  report  that  they 
were  to  start  that  night.  They  went  to  sleep  with  each 
camel's  pack  ready  apart  so  that  it  could  be  loaded  at 
a  moment's  notice.  '  At  last  about  11  p.m.,  as  the  moon 
was  beginning  to  peep  over  the  eastern  wall  of  rock, 
was  heard  the  glad  sound  of  the  little  kettledrum 
calling  the  Albanian  troopers  to  mount  and  march. 
In  the  shortest  possible  time  all  made  ready  ;  and 
hurriedly  crossing  the  sandy  flat,  we  found  ourselves 
in  company  with  three  or  four  caravans,  forming  one 
large  body  for  better  defence  against  the  dreaded 
Hawamid,'  the  tribesmen  of  Shaykh  Sa'ad.  Burton's 
party  were  the  last  comers  and  had  to  fight  their  way 
into  the  middle  of  the  procession.  The  rear  is  the 
place  of  danger,  and  no  one  likes  to  find  himself  there. 

At  early  dawn  the  caravan  entered  the  ill-famed 
gorge  called  the  Pilgrimage  Pass,  and  as  the  pilgrims 
went  up  it  in  anxious  silence  they  were  suddenly  aware 
of  thin  blue  curls  of  smoke  among  the  rocks.  Directly 
after  shots  rang  out  and  echoed  across  the  gorge.  The 
Badawin  swarmed  on  to  the  cliffs  like  cats  and  fired 
down  on  to  the  caravan  from  their  impregnable  positions. 
They  fired  chiefly  on  the  escort,  and  it  was  useless  to 
retaliate  as  the  enemy  kept  well  hidden  behind  the 
stones.  Besides,  had  one  of  these  robbers  been  killed 
the  whole  country  would  have  risen  and  would  probably 
have  destroyed  the  caravan  to  a  man.  The  Albanian 
soldiers  called  for  help  from  a  party  of  Shaykhs.  '  But 
the  dignified  old  men,  dismounting  and  squatting  in 
council  round  their  pipes,  came  to  the  conclusion  that, 
as  the  robbers  would  probably  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  their 
words,  they  had  better  spare  themselves  the  trouble 
of  speaking.'     The  travellers  covered  themselves  with 


'Fired  down  on  to  the  caravan  from  their  impregnable  positions.' 


66      THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

as  much  smoke  as  possible  and  pushed  on.  They  lost 
altogether  twelve  men  besides  a  number  of  camels. 
At  eleven  next  morning  they  reached  Suwaykah,  where 
Burton  pitched  his  tent  under  a  mimosa  tree,  whose 
shade  is  described  by  the  Badawin  as  resembling  a 
false  friend  who  deserts  you  when  you  most  need  him. 
They  left  again  at  4  p.m.,  and  the  night  passed  in 
quarrels  between  the  boy  Mohammed  and  the  camel- 
men,  whom  he  succeeded  in  provoking  so  successfully 
that  they  disappeared  altogether.  Mohammed  shouted 
after  them  furiously  when  he  found  the  dromedaries 
stumbling  and  falling  once  in  every  mile,  but  he  got 
nothing  but  black  looks  from  the  other  camel-men, 
who  muttered,  '  By  Allah  !  and  by  Allah  !  and  by  Allah  ! 
O  boy,  we  will  flog  thee  like  a  hound  when  we  catch 
thee  in  the  desert.'  Mohammed  lost  his  temper  entirely, 
and  Burton  was  so  much  interested  in  listening  to  this 
torrent  of  idiomatic  abuse  that  he  did  not  try  to  stop 
him.  The  result  was  that  the  already  damaged  Shug- 
duf  was  reduced  to  ruins  by  his  fellow-travellers,  and  he 
and  Mohammed  journeyed  the  remainder  of  the  way 
perched  up  like  birds  on  the  bare  framework. 

At  sunrise  on  the  25th  Burton  noticed  that  every- 
one was  suddenly  hurrying  on  in  spite  of  the  rough 
ground.  '  Are  there  robbers  in  sight  ?  '  he  asked.  '  No,' 
replied  Mohammed,  '  they  are  walking  with  their  eyes, 
they  will  presently  see  their  homes.'  Not  long  after 
they  arrived  at  the  top  of  a  ridge  and  Al-Madinah  lay 
before  them.  Everyone  dismounted  and  sat  down  to 
feast  his  eyes  on  the  Holy  City  with  many  exclamations 
of  delight.  Burton  remembered  the  phrase  in  the 
Moslem  ritual :  '  And  when  his  eyes  shall  fall  upon  the 
trees  of  Al-Madinah  let  him  raise  his  Voice  and  bless 


RICHARD  BURTON  67 

the  Apostle  with  the  choicest  of  Blessings.'  He,  too, 
joined  in  the  general  thanksgiving  at  the  sight  of  the 
gardens  and  orchards  surrounding  the  town  after  eight 
days'  journey  through  the  wilderness. 

4.  August  in  Al-Madinah 

The  city  lay  about  two  miles  below  them,  and 
the  four  tall  towers  and  green  dome  under  which 
the  Apostle  is  supposed  to  lie  buried  were  very  con- 
spicuous. So  were  the  celebrated  palm-groves  known 
throughout  Al-Islam  as  the  '  Trees  of  Al-Madinah.' 
Burton  mounted  again  and  went  on  towards  the  gate. 
His  companions  preferred  to  walk,  as  it  was  more  con- 
venient for  kissing  the  many  friends  and  relations 
who  came  out  to  greet  them  so  affectionately.  They 
entered  by  the  Bab  Ambari  and  passed  along  the  streets 
till  they  reached  the  entrance  to  Hamid's  house.  He 
had  ridden  ahead  to  prepare  for  his  guests,  but  even 
so  their  camels  remained  kneeling  for  five  minutes 
before  he  was  ready  to  come  out  to  greet  them.  He 
was  hardly  recognisable  with  his  head  and  face  shaved 
and  a  clean  muslin  turband  and  neat  little  upturned 
moustaches.  He  had  discarded  his  tattered  shirt, 
and  wore  instead  a  pink  merino  cloak  over  a  flowered 
'  caftan '  and  a  fringed  plaid-patterned  sash  wound 
round  his  waist.  His  pantaloons  were  of  silk  and  cotton 
gaily  edged  round  the  ankles,  and  his  shoes  of  lemon- 
coloured  leather  were  the  latest  fashion  from  Con- 
stantinople. He  carried  a  mother-of-pearl  rosary  in 
one  hand  and  an  elegant  pipe  with  an  amber  mouth- 
piece in  the  other,  and  his  tobacco  pouch  of  broadcloth 
richly  embroidered  with  gold  dangled  from  his  waist. 
All  the  travellers  dressed  up  in  the  same  manner  during 


68      THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

the  first  days  of  their  return  to  Al-Madinah.  After 
this  their  finery  was  put  away,  to  be  used  again  on 
state  occasions  only. 

Shaykh  Hamid  took  Burton  by  the  hand  and  led 
him  up  to  the  parlour.  Here  pipes  were  prepared  and 
diwans  spread  in  readiness  for  the  customary  calls 
from  friends  and  relations,  who  are  all  expected  to  come 
on  the  very  day  of  the  traveller's  arrival  home.  They 
soon  began  to  pour  in  ;  each  visitor  stayed  for  about 
half  an  hour  ;  then  after  a  smoke  and  a  cup  of  coffee, 
interspersed  with  much  conversation  and  gossip,  he 
suddenly  got  up,  embraced  his  host,  and  went  away. 

When  nearly  all  the  strangers  had  left,  in  rushed  a 
horde  of  mischievous  children,  who  pulled  to  pieces 
everything  they  could  lay  their  hands  on.  Burton 
objected  when  one  small  boy  aged  three  trod  on  his 
wounded  foot,  and  was  at  once  informed  that  his  father 
had  a  sword  at  home  and  would  cut  his  throat  from  ear 
to  ear.  Another  boy  snatched  up  his  loaded  pistol 
and  held  it  to  a  companion's  head.  Fortunately  the 
trigger  was  stiff  and  it  was  at  half  cock,  so  no  damage 
was  done. 

Burton  at  last  could  bear  it  no  longer,  and  in  spite 
of  Mohammed's  feelings  on  the  subject  of  etiquette 
he  told  his  host  that  he  was  hungry,  thirsty,  and  sleepy, 
and  wanted  to  be  alone  before  visiting  the  Harim,  a 
duty  required  of  the  pious  upon  arrival.  '  The  good- 
natured  Shaykh,'  writes  Burton,  '  who  was  preparing 
to  go  out  at  once  to  pray  before  his  father's  grave, 
immediately  brought  me  breakfast,  lighted  a  pipe, 
spread  a  bed,  darkened  the  room,  turned  out  the 
children,  and  left  me  to  the  society  I  most  desired — 
my  own.     I  then  overheard  him  summon  his  mother, 


RICHARD  BURTON  69 

wife,  and  other  female  relatives  into  the  store-room 
where  his  treasures  had  been  carefully  stowed  away. 
During  the  forenoon,  in  the  presence  of  the  visitors, 
one  of  Hamid's  uncles  had  urged  him,  half  jocularly, 
to  bring  out  the  Sahharah.  The  Shaykh  did  not  care 
to  do  anything  of  the  kind.  Every  time  a  new  box  is 
opened  in  this  part  of  the  world,  the  owner's  generosity 
is  appealed  to  by  those  whom  a  refusal  offends,  and 
he  must  allow  himself  to  be  plundered  with  the  best 
possible  grace.  Hamid  therefore  prudently  suffered 
all  to  depart  before  exhibiting  his  spoils,  which,  to 
judge  by  the  exclamations  of  delight  which  they  elicited 
from  feminine  lips,  proved  highly  satisfactory  to  those 
concerned.' 

Burton  never  saw  any  of  the  women,  and  never 
even  heard  the  voice  of  the  young  mistress  of  the  house, 
who  stayed  all  day  in  the  upper  rooms.  Hamid's 
old  mother  sometimes  came  out  on  the  stairs  and 
shouted  to  her  son  or  to  Burton  if  no  one  was  about. 
The  days  were  passed  in  this  way :  The  first  breakfast 
was  at  dawn,  and  consisted  of  a  piece  of  stale  bread 
followed  by  a  pipe  and  a  cup  of  coffee.  Then,  after 
dressing,  a  visit  was  paid  to  the  Harim  or  to  some  other 
Holy  Place.  As  soon  as  the  sun  began  to  get  hot  the 
pilgrims  went  back  to  the  house  and  smoked  and 
talked  till  11  o'clock,  when  dinner  was  served  on  a 
large  copper  tray.  Everyone  sat  round  and  dipped 
their  hands  in  it,  helping  themselves  to  meat  and 
vegetable  stew,  followed  by  boiled  rice  and  then  fresh 
dates,  grapes  and  pomegranates.  Burton  always  found 
an  excuse  for  a  midday  siesta,  and  lay  reading  and 
dozing  and  taking  surreptitious  notes  on  a  rug  spread 
in  the  dark  passage  behind  the  parlour  until  sunset. 


70       THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

Then  came  the  hour  for  paying  and  receiving  visits, 
followed  by  evening  prayers  and  another  substantial 
meal.  In  the  evening  more  visiting,  smoking,  and 
chatting  until  bedtime. 

However  great  the  heat  by  day  the  nights  were 
always  cool,  but  they  were  apt  to  be  disturbed  by  the 
troopers'  horses,  who  were  continually  breaking  loose 
and  causing  mischief.  Burton  describes  how  an  old 
hobbled  nag,  '  having  slipped  the  headstall,  would 
advance  with  kangaroo  leaps  towards  a  neighbour 
against  whom  it  had  a  private  grudge.  Their  heads 
would  touch  for  a  moment ;  then  came  a  snort  and  a 
whinny,  a  furious  kick,  and,  lastly,  a  second  horse  loose 
and  dashing  about  with  head  and  tail  viciously  cocked. 
This  was  the  signal  for  a  general  breaking  of  halters 
and  heel-ropes  ;  after  which  a  stampede  scoured  the 
plain,  galloping,  rearing,  kicking,  biting,  snorting, 
pawing,  and  screaming,  with  the  dogs  barking 
sympathetically,  and  the  horse-keepers  shouting  in 
hot  pursuit.' 

Burton's  foot  still  gave  him  great  pain,  and  he 
decided  that  he  must  have  a  donkey  to  carry  him  to 
the  prophet's  tomb.  Shaykh  Hamid  sent  for  one,  and 
'  a  wretched  animal  appeared,  raw-backed,  lame  of 
one  leg,  and  wanting  an  ear,  with  accoutrements  to 
match,  a  pack-saddle  without  stirrups,  and  a  halter 
instead  of  a  bridle.  Such  as  the  brute  was,  however, 
I  had  to  mount  it,  and  to  ride  through  the  Misri  gate, 
to  the  wonder  of  certain  Badawin,  who,  like  the  Indians, 
despise  the  ass. 

*'  Honourable  is  the  riding  of  a  horse  to  the  rider, 
But  the  mule  is  a  dishonour,  and  the  donkey  a  disgrace," 


RICHARD  BURTON  71 

says  their  song.'  They  decided  (audibly)  that  he 
must  be  a  Turk,  and  asked  :  '  By  what  curse  of  Allah 
have  we  been  subjected  to  ass-riders  ?  ' 

The  narrow  streets  had  been  freshly  watered  and 
were  very  muddy.  After  passing  through  them  for 
some  time  they  came  suddenly  upon  the  mosque.  It 
has  no  approach,  and  Burton  on  entering  was  surprised 
at  its  mean  and  tawdry  appearance — it  was  altogether 
more  like  an  old  curiosity  shop  than  a  dignified  religious 
building. 

Shaj'kh  Hamid  fought  a  way  through  the  crowd 
of  beggars,  and  he  and  Burton  walked  slowly  down  the 
building  reciting  the  preliminary  prayer.  Then  they 
passed  into  the  Ranzah  or  '  Garden.'  Here  the  carpets 
are  flowered  and  arabesque  vegetation  twines  round 
the  pillars.  At  the  back  is  the  green  and  gilt  filigree 
railing  of  the  prophet's  tomb  looking  in  the  distance 
rather  like  a  huge  bird-cage.  At  night  when  lamps 
and  candles  are  lit  the  whole  effect  is  picturesque ; 
but  by  daylight  it  is  a  poor  and  tawdry  imitation  of 
a  garden. 

After  the  correct  prayers  had  been  repeated  here 
the  Mausoleum  itself  was  entered  under  the  green 
dome  that  the  pilgrims  had  looked  down  upon  from  a 
distance.  Within  an  inner  railing  are  the  tombs  of 
Mohammed,  Abu  Bakr,  Omar  and  Fatimah.  Opposite 
each  is  a  small  window  or  opening  through  which  the 
pilgrims  can  look.  The  exact  place  of  Mohammed's 
tomb  was  marked  by  a  large  pearl  rosary  and  an 
ornament  supposed  to  be  of  great  value,  but  it  reminded 
Burton  of  the  glass  stoppers  of  an  ordinary  decanter. 
He  did  not  wish  to  pay  the  large  sum  necessary  to 
gain  admission  to  the  tomb  itself,  but  passed  on  with 


72   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

Shaykh  Hamid  to  the  sixth  station,  where  hes  the  body 
of  the  Lady  Fatimah,  daughter  of  the  prophet,  outside 
the  curtain  surrounding  her  father's  remains. 

Eventually  they  returned  to  '  the  Garden,'  and  on 
his  way  out  Burton  was  beset  by  beggars  of  every  kind, 
who,  seeing  the  boy  Mohammed's  handsome  embroidered 
coat,  decided  that  his  master  must  be  very  rich.  Burton 
had  to  part  with  nearly  £l  instead  of  about  ten  shillings 
as  he  had  intended. 

Besides  the  tomb  of  the  prophet  there  were  several 
other  holy  places  round  the  city  to  be  visited.  Early 
one  morning  Burton  started  for  the  Mosque  of  Kuba. 
The  boy  Mohammed  had  procured  for  him  a  Meccan 
dromedary  with  a  magnificent  saddle  covered  with  a 
crimson  sheepskin  and  with  enormous  tassels  hanging 
almost  to  the  ground.  The  boy  himself  walked,  as 
he  was  too  proud  to  ride  a  donkey  and  could  not 
get  hold  of  a  horse.  He  wore  the  same  gorgeous 
embroidered  coat  that  had  cost  Burton  so  dear  at  the 
prophet's  tomb,  and  he  carried  a  pistol  which  he  was 
longing  for  an  opportunity  to  use.  Shaykh  Hamid 
was  mounted  on  an  ass  more  miserable  even  than 
Burton's  original  mount. 

They  left  the  town  and  passed  southwards  through 
the  palm  groves.  There  was  a  gentle  breeze,  rare  in 
Al-Hijaz,  and  the  warbling  of  small  birds  mingled  with 
the  splash  of  water  from  the  wells  into  the  wooden 
troughs  and  the  sound  of  the  Persian  water-wheels. 
The  famous  date  trees  were  loaded  with  great  clusters 
of  fruit  weighing  upwards  of  eighty  pounds  each.  There 
are  said  to  be  139  different  varieties  of  date.  The 
best,  called  Al-Shelebi,  is  packed  in  skins  or  flat  boxes 
and  sent  all  over  the  world,  but  it  is  too  expensive  for 


•  The  boy  Mohammed  had  procured  for  him  a  Meccan  dromedary 
with  a  magnificent  saddle.' 


74   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

the  natives.  Then  there  is  the  Ajwah,  which  may  be 
eaten  but  not  sold,  because  the  prophet  declared  that 
whoever  broke  his  fast  daily  with  six  or  seven  of  these 
dates  need  not  fear  poison  or  magic.  Another — Al- 
Hilwah — is  so  called  from  its  remarkable  sweetness. 
The  legend  runs  that  Mohammed  once  planted  a  stone 
which  grew  up  in  a  few  minutes  into  this  tree  and  bore 
fruit  at  once.  There  is  also  Al-Birni,  the  cure  for  all 
sickness,  and  Wahshi,  which  once  salamed  to  the  prophet 
and  ever  since  bows  down  its  head,  and  many  others. 
The  natives  speak  of  their  dates  as  the  Irishman  speaks 
of  his  potatos,  and  they  are  eaten  both  for  food  and 
medicine.  The  most  usual  method  is  to  broil  them 
in  clarified  butter,  a  most  unappetising  dish  to  a 
European,  but  when  an  Oriental  cannot  enjoy  it  his 
stomach  is  considered  to  be  out  of  order.  The  children 
wear  necklaces  made  of  the  unripe  fruit  strung  on  thread 
after  being  dipped  in  boiling  water  to  keep  the  bright 
yellow  colour.  Needless  to  say  they  munch  their 
necklaces  whenever  no  one  is  looking.  The  quantity 
of  fruit  at  Al-Madinah  is  due  to  the  abundance  of  the 
water  supply,  and  to  this  the  town  owes  its  prosperity. 
Each  garden  has  its  own  well  and  water-wheel,  which 
floods  the  soil  every  third  day  even  in  the  hottest 
weather.  Between  the  gardens  are  narrow  lanes 
fenced  on  each  side  with  reeds  and  overhung  with 
tamarisk. 

After  threading  their  way  for  some  time  through 
these  lanes  and  groves  the  pilgrims  caught  sight  of  the 
minaret  of  Kuba  through  the  trees.  They  soon  reached 
the  village,  a  collection  of  huts  and  towers,  dirty  lanes 
and  heaps  of  rubbish  and  barking  dogs.  A  dozen 
infants  rushed  out  demanding  Bakshish.     They  were 


RICHARD  BURTON  75 

quite  haked  and  each  carried  a  fierce-looking  baby- 
exactly  like  himself,  only  even  noisier.  They  were 
left  in  charge  of  the  animals,  while  Burton  and  his 
friends  pulled  off  their  slippers  and  entered  the  mosque, 
which  is  built  over  the  supposed  place  where 
Mohammed's  she-camel  knelt  down  on  the  flight  from 
Meccah  to  Al-Madinah. 

After  performing  the  necessary  rites  Burton  came 
out  into  a  garden  where  there  was  a  deep  well.  The 
heat  was  already  overpowering,  although  it  was  only 
9  o'clock,  and  he  refused  to  do  any  more  praying,  but 
lay  down  and  fell  asleep  to  the  sound  of  the  water- 
wheel.  When  the  others  had  smoked  for  a  while  they 
woke  him  up  and  returned  to  Al-Madinah. 

On  August  28  the  great  caravan  from  Damascus 
arrived.  This  was  an  event  anxiously  looked  for  by 
the  inhabitants,  because  it  brought  the  new  curtain 
for  the  prophet's  tomb  and  also  the  annual  stipends 
and  pensions  for  the  citizens.  Many  friends  too  returned 
home  with  it. 

When  Burton  looked  out  the  following  morning  a 
whole  town  of  variously  shaped  and  coloured  tents 
had  sprung  up,  pitched  in  a  most  orderly  manner  in 
groups  and  rows.  But  the  confusion,  the  bustling, 
and  the  noise  of  the  population  were  indescribable. 
Camels  with  their  nodding  litters,  flocks  of  goats  and 
sheep,  water-carriers,  fruit-sellers,  shopmen,  soldiers, 
women  and  children,  pushing,  running  and  tumbling 
in  every  direction,  and  raising  a  dust  as  thick  as  a 
London  fog. 

The  Damascus  caravan  was  to  leave  again  on 
September  1.  Burton  had  intended  to  wait  two  days 
longer  in  Al-Madinah  and  travel  with  the  Kafilat-al- 


76   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

Tayyarah,  or  the  Flying  Caravan,  which  carries  less 
weight  and  travels  faster.  But  early  on  the  morning 
of  August  30,  Shaykh  Hamid  hurried  in  from  the  bazar 
exclaiming  :  '  You  must  make  ready  at  once,  Effendi  ! 
— There  will  be  no  Tayyarah — all  Hajis  start  to-morrow 
— Allah  will  make  it  easy  to  you  !  Have  you  your 
water-skins  in  order  ? — You  are  to  travel  down  the 
Darb-al-Sharki,  where  you  will  not  see  water  for  three 
days  !  '  Hamid  imagined  that  he  was  bringing  bad 
news,  little  thinking  that  Burton  was  inwardly  delighted 
at  the  prospect  of  travelling  by  the  celebrated  route 
through  the  Nijd  desert,  the  route  which  had  been 
followed  by  Harun-al-Rashid  and  the  Lady  Zubaydah 
of  the  'Arabian  Nights'  Tales'  and  which  no  European 
traveller  had  ever  yet  seen. 

5.  By  the  Road  of  Harun-al-Rashid 

A  general  bustle  began.  The  boy  Mohammed 
hurried  out  to  buy  a  new  Shugduf,  and  also  a  Shibrayah 
or  cot  for  Shaykh  Nur,  who  was  tired  of  sleeping  on 
boxes.  He  spent  the  rest  of  the  day  in  covering  and 
mending  the  htter  and  making  large  provision  pockets 
inside  and  out,  and  pouches  for  the  water  gugglets. 
No  workmen  were  procurable,  so  Burton  himself  had 
to  sit  down  and  patch  the  rat-holes  in  the  water-skins, 
while  Shaykh  Nur  went  out  to  buy  the  supplies.  They 
took  provisions  enough  for  fourteen  days,  as  the  camel- 
men  expect  to  be  fed,  but  the  journey  should  last  only 
eleven  days. 

Shaykh  Hamid  undertook  to  procure  the  camels, 
the  most  important  part  of  the  whole  business.  He 
brought  back  a  boy  and  an  old  man  called  Mas'ud  of 
the  Rahlah,  who  after  drinking  a  cup  of  coffee  intimated 


RICHARD  BURTON  77 

that  he  was  ready  to  open  negotiations.  Burton 
began  with,  '  We  want  men,  and  not  camels,'  and  a 
long  discussion  followed.  Finally  terms  were  agreed 
to  by  both  parties.  '  Hamid  then  addressed  to  me,' 
writes  Burton,  '  flowery  praises  of  the  old  Badawi. 
After  which,  turning  to  the  latter,  he  exclaimed,  "  Thou 
wilt  treat  these  friends  well,  O  Mas'ud  the  Harbi !  " 
The  ancient  replied  with  a  dignity  that  had  no  pom- 
posity in  it, — "  Even  as  Abu  Shawarib — the  Father 
of  IMoustachios — behaveth  to  us,  so  will  we  behave  to 
him  !  "  '  As  soon  as  they  had  left  Shaykh  Hamid 
shook  his  head  and  advised  Burton  to  give  them  plenty 
to  eat.  He  was  also  to  keep  the  water-skins  on  a  camel 
in  front  and  to  hang  them,  contrary  to  custom,  with 
their  tied  mouths  upwards,  for  the  Badawin  were  very 
fond  of  drinking  pilgrims'  water  on  the  sly. 

Burton's  friends  came  in  during  the  afternoon  to 
say  good-bye  and  bring  him  small  souvenirs  in  the 
shape  of  pencils  and  a  penknife.  Omar  Effendi  and 
Shaykh  Hamid  both  hinted  that  they  meant  soon  to 
escape  again  from  their  families  and  resume  their  travels. 
Omar  Effendi  turned  up  later  with  his  father  in  Meccah 
before  Burton  left. 

The  boy  Mohammed  was  still  working  at  the 
Shugduf  an  hour  after  sunset,  but  everything  else  was 
ready.  Various  small  debts  were  settled  and  the 
luggage  carried  down  and  arranged  so  that  it  could 
be  loaded  at  a  moment's  notice.  At  2  a.m.,  as  no  gun 
had  sounded,  Burton  lay  down  and  went  to  sleep, 
congratulating  himself  on  having  got  through  the  first 
part  of  his  pilgrimage  so  successfully.  Once  at  Meccah 
he  would  be  so  near  the  coast  that  even  if  detected  he 
would  probably  be  able  to  escape  to  Yeddah  and  put 


78      THE  BOOK  01  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

himself  under  the  protection  of  the  English  vice-consul 
there. 

At  8  o'clock  next  morning  Mas'ud  the  camel-man 
hurried  in  and  said  the  camels  must  be  loaded  at  once. 
An  hour  later  Burton  embraced  his  friends  affectionately, 
and  mounted  with  the  boy  Mohammed  in  the  litter 
while  Shaykh  Nur  climbed  into  his  cot.  They  passed 
out  of  the  town  northwards  in  company  with  some 
Turks  and  Meccans  who  were  also  riding  camels  belong- 
ing to  Mas'ud.  A*^^  a  place  called  Al-Ghadir  or  the 
Basin,  the  pilgrims  dismounted  for  a  last  view  of  the 
ancient  minarets  and  the  green  dome  of  the  Holy 
City. 

At  noon  they  continued  their  march  across  rough 
and  stony  ground  with  here  and  there  a  thorny  acacia 
and  traces  of  volcanic  lava.  Late  in  the  afternoon 
they  passed  the  dead  bodies  of  many  camels  and  asses 
which  had  succumbed  to  the  heat.  Troops  of  half- 
starved  Takruri  pilgrims  were  cutting  steaks  out  of 
the  carcases  to  carry  on  with  them  till  they  had  an 
opportunity  to  cook  them. 

The  travellers  arrived  at  Ja  Al-Sharifah,  twenty- 
two  miles  from  Al-Madinah,  at  8  o'clock  and  halted 
for  the  night.  Burton's  tent  had  already  been  pitched 
by  a  man  sent  on  ahead.  A  fire  was  lit  and  the  usual 
supper  of  rice,  chutnee,  and  tough  mutton  or  goat  was 
prepared.  The  departure  gun  went  at  3  next  morning, 
and  Burton  and  his  companions  hurried  off  to  join  up 
with  the  main  body  of  the  caravan  which  could  be  seen 
winding  slowly  across  the  plain.  It  consisted  of  about 
7000  people  travelling  in  every  variety  of  manner,  on 
foot,  on  horses,  asses,  mules  or  camels,  each  dressed 
according  to  his  rank,   from  the  meanest  half-naked 


RICHARD  BURTON  79 

Takruri  to  the  scarlet  and  gilt  and  embroidered  robes 
of  the  grandees. 

In  the  afternoon  of  September  2  the  direction  of 
the  march  changed  to  the  south-west.  A  halt  was 
made  to  replenish  the  water  supply.  Mas'ud  said  his 
camels  had  not  drunk  for  twenty  hours  and  would 
sink  by  the  roadside  unless  they  were  refreshed.  He 
and  the  boy  Mohammed  went  off  with  several  water- 
bags  to  the  wells  two  miles  away.  They  did  not  return 
till  after  dark,  having  had  great  difficulty  in  getting 
the  water,  for  the  wells  were  held  by  the  soldiers,  who 
asked  large  sums  of  money  from  anyone  coming  to  draw 
water.  However,  they  brought  with  them  two  skins 
full,  and  the  boy  Mohammed  was  so  pleased  with  him- 
self that  he  drank  clarified  butter  and  ate  mashed  dates 
that  night  to  such  an  extent  that  he  made  himself 
quite  ill,  and  thought  he  was  going  to  die. 

'  We  passed  a  pleasant  hour  or  two,'  writes  Burton, 
'  before  sleeping.  I  began  to  like  the  old  Shaykh 
Mas'ud,  who,  seeing  it,  entertained  me  with  his 
genealogy,  his  battles,  and  his  family  affairs.  The 
rest  of  the  party  could  not  prevent  expressing  con- 
tempt when  they  heard  me  putting  frequent  questions 
about  torrents,  hills,  Badawin  and  the  directions  of 
places.  "  Let  the  Father  of  Moustachios  ask  and  learn," 
said  the  old  man  ;  "  he  is  friendly  with  the  Badawin, 
and  knows  better  than  you  all." ' 

The  departure  gun  woke  everyone  at  1  o'clock 
the  next  morning.  '  Choose  early  Darkness  for  your 
Wayfarings,'  said  the  Prophet,  '  as  the  Calamities  of 
the  Earth  (serpents  and  wild  beasts)  appear  not  at 
Night.'  But  Burton  fumed  and  fretted  at  these  night 
marches,  both  because  of  the  extreme  discomfort  and 


80   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

the  slackness  that  resulted  by  day,  and  also  because 
it  was  too  dark  for  him  to  see  anything  of  the  country. 
After  dawn  he  was  able  to  take  some  notes.  Between 
6  and  7  they  crossed  a  ridge  of  hills  covered  with  rocks 
and  boulders.  The  surefootedness  of  the  camels  was 
extraordinary.  Not  one  fell,  though  they  frequently 
moaned  when  puzzled  by  sudden  turns  in  the  path. 
They  descended  the  other  side  into  an  acacia-barren, 
a  tract  of  country  dreaded  by  all  pilgrims,  for  the  long 
thorny  branches  catch  in  everything,  and  Shugdufs  are 
often  dragged  completely  off  and  broken  on  the  ground. 

After  crossing  a  second  ridge  the  caravan  descended 
into  another  hill- encircled  plain  across  which  scudded 
pillars  of  sand,  occasionally  throwing  down  both  camel 
and  rider. 

A  halt  was  made  and  tents  pitched  in  the  afternoon 
at  Al-Hijriyah,  and  the  water-supply  was  again  re- 
plenished. From  here  it  was  about  twenty-eight  miles 
on  to  Al-Suwayrkiyah  in  the  territory  of  the  Sharif 
of  Meccah,  where  they  arrived  on  the  evening  of 
September  4. 

Up  till  now  the  party  with  whom  Burton  travelled 
had  kept  on  good  terms  with  each  other,  but  at  Al- 
Suwayrkiyah  a  commotion  was  caused  by  a  most 
typical  old  Arab  called  Ali  bin  Ya  Sin.  He  was  by 
profession  a  dispenser  of  holy  water,  and  owned  a 
boarding-house  in  Meccah.  Every  year  he  escorted 
pilgrims  to  Al-Madinah,  although  he  was  over  sixty 
years  old  and  very  white-haired  and  decrepit.  He 
travelled  in  great  comfort  in  a  home-made  Shugduf 
well  stocked  with  soft  cushions,  pickled  limes  and  other 
luxuries.  This  was  converted  at  night  into  a  tent. 
He  was  most  fidgety  and  precise  about  his  belongings  ; 


RICHARD  BURTON  81 

everything  had  its  right  place,  and  nothing — not  even 
a  pomegranate  seed — must  be  wasted.  He  was  also 
very  nervous  and  mumbled  in  his  sleep  half  the  night, 
and  was  furious  if  his  travelling  companion  so  much  as 
stirred.  On  this  trip  he  had  been  sharing  his  Shugduf 
with  an  ill-favoured  Egyptian  with  whom  he  quarrelled 
incessantly.  At  last  he  kicked  him  out  altogether, 
and  then,  fearing  the  consequences,  came  to  beg 
Burton's  protection  and  the  occasional  company  of 
his  servant.  '  This,'  says  Burton,  '  was  readily  granted 
in  pity  for  the  old  man,  who  became  immensely  grate- 
ful. He  offered  at  once  to  take  Shaykh  Nur  into  his 
Shugduf.  The  Indian  boy  had  already  reduced  to 
ruins  the  frail  structure  of  his  Shibriyah  by  lying  upon 
it  lengthways,  whereas  prudent  travellers  sit  in  it  cross- 
legged  and  facing  the  camel.  Moreover  he  had  been 
laughed  to  scorn  by  the  Badawin,  who,  seeing  him 
pull  up  his  dromedary  to  mount  and  dismount,  had 
questioned  his  sex,  and  determined  him  to  be  a  woman. 
...  I  could  not  rebuke  them ;  the  poor  fellow's 
timidity  was  a  ridiculous  contrast  to  the  Badawi's 
style  of  mounting ;  a  pull  at  the  camel's  head,  the  left 
foot  placed  on  the  neck,  an  agile  spring,  and  a  scramble 
into  the  saddle.  Shaykh  Nur,  elated  by  the  sight  of 
old  Ali's  luxuries,  promised  himself  some  joyous  hours  ; 
but  next  morning  he  owned  with  a  sigh  that  he  had 
purchased  splendour  at  the  extravagant  price  of 
happiness — the  senior's  tongue  never  rested  through- 
out the  livelong  night.' 

During  the  next  day's  march  the  Siimiim  blew  hard, 
and  as  usual  affected  the  travellers'  tempers.  Burton 
saw  a  Turk  who  could  speak  no  Arabic  quarrelling 
violently  with  an   Arab  who  could  speak  no  Turkish. 


82   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

The  Turk  had  picked  up  a  few  dried  sticks  which  he 
wished  to  carry  on  with  him  to  make  a  fire  to  cook  his 
next  dinner.  As  fast  as  he  put  them  on  the  camel's 
back  the  Arab  driver  threw  them  to  the  ground.  '  They 
screamed  with  rage,'  says  Burton,  '  hustled  each  other, 
and  at  last  the  Turk  dealt  the  Arab  a  heavy  blow.  I 
afterwards  heard  that  the  pilgrim  was  mortally  wounded 
that  night,  his  stomach  being  ripped  open  with  a  dagger. 
On  inquiring  what  had  become  of  him  I  was  assured 
that  he  had  been  comfortably  wrapped  up  in  his  shroud 
and  placed  in  a  half-dug  grave.  This  is  the  general 
practice  in  the  case  of  the  poor  and  solitary,  whom 
illness  or  accident  incapacitates  from  proceeding.' 

The  caravan  halted  that  night  at  a  large  village 
called  Al-Sufayna.  They  found  the  Baghdad  caravan 
already  encamped  here.  Though  only  2000  strong 
these  North-eastern  Arabians  and  Wahhabis  were 
most  pugnacious  in  their  attitude  to  the  new-comers, 
and  clearly  showed  they  meant  to  hold  their  own  in 
every  way. 

That  evening  Burton  was  introduced  to  a  name- 
sake, Shaykh  Abdullah  of  Meccah.  He  had  left  his 
Shugduf  to  his  son  and  had  ridden  forward  on  a 
dromedary.  Now  having  suddenly  been  taken  ill  he 
begged  Burton  for  some  medicine  and  a  seat  in  his 
Shugduf  until  he  could  find  his  own  again.  The  boy 
Mohammed  was  delighted  to  ride  a  camel  for  a  change, 
and  the  two  Abdullahs  travelled  in  the  Shugduf. 
Burton  gave  his  new  patient  an  opium  pill  and  persuaded 
him  to  carry  the  heavy  bag  o|  dollars  that  he  had 
fastened  to  his  waist-belt  in  some  more  comfortable 
place.  He  found  his  new  companion  full  of  information 
and  very  ready  to  be  agreeable  and  talk. 


RICHARD  BURTON  83 

After  leaving  Al-SufaVna  the  caravan  marched 
south-cast  and  travelled  all  that  day  through  a  most 
desolate  piece  of  country  full  of  whirling  sand  columns, 
skeletons  and  echoes.  A  halt  was  sounded  at  4.30. 
'  Cook  your  bread  and  boil  your  coffee,'  said  the  old 
camel-driver.  '  The  camels  will  rest  awhile  and  the 
gun  will  sound  at  nightfall.'  He  was  quite  right. 
At  10.30,  when  the  moon  was  still  young,  they  started 
again,  this  time  in  a  south-westerly  direction.  It  was 
very  dark.  The  camels  '  tripped  and  stumbled,  tossing 
their  litters  like  cockboats  in  a  short  sea  ;  at  times  the 
Shugdufs  were  well-nigh  torn  off  their  backs.'  Mas'ud 
and  his  son  led  their  camels  with  lights  over  the  worst 
places.  '  It  was  a  strange,  wild  scene,'  Burton  tells 
us.  '  The  black  basaltic  field  was  dotted  with  the  huge 
and  doubtful  forms  of  spongy- footed  camels  with  silent 
tread,  looming  like  phantoms  in  the  midnight  air  ;  the 
hot  wind  moaned,  and  whirled  from  the  torches  flakes 
and  sheets  of  flame  and  fiery  smoke,  whilst  ever  and 
anon  a  swift-travelling  Takht-rawan,  drawn  by  mules, 
and  surrounded  by  runners  bearing  gigantic  mashals 
or  cressets,  threw  a  passing  glow  of  red  light  upon  the 
dark  road  and  the  dusky  multitude.' 

Once  a  horseman  untied  the  halter  of  Burton's 
dromedary  to  make  room  for  a  friend  of  his  own. 
Burton  drew  his  sword,  but  Shaykh  Abdullah  used  such 
violent  language  that  the  intruder  thought  better  of 
it  and  disappeared. 

As  the  days  went  on  the  Damascus  camels  got 
more  and  more  worn  out  and  could  not  travel  at  all 
except  by  night,  when  it  was  cool.  Quarrels  between 
the  pilgrims  and  the  Badawin  became  more  frequent 
and   violent.     At   last   on   September   9  they   reached 


84   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

Al-Zaribah,  the  place  where  the  travellers  have  to  put 
on  their  pilgrim-dress.  Burton  and  his  friends  had 
their  heads  shaved,  their  nails  cut  and  their  moustachios 
trimmed.  They  washed  and  perfumed  themselves, 
and  then  each  dressed  himself  in  two  pieces  of  new 
red  and  white  striped  cotton  about  6  feet  long  by 
3|  feet  broad.  These  they  wound  round  shoulders 
and  waist,  tucking  in  or  knotting  the  ends.  On  their 
feet  they  wore  sandals,  and  their  heads  were  bare. 

When  they  were  dressed  and  had  prayed  with  their 
faces  towards  Meccah,  Shaykh  Abdullah  gave  the 
others  some  good  advice.  He  told  them  to  be  good 
pilgrims  and  reminded  them  that  they  must  not  quarrel 
or  kill  any  living  thing — even  a  flea.  The  only  excep- 
tions to  this  rule  are  the  crow,  the  kite,  the  scorpion, 
the  rat  and  a  biting  dog.  These  may  be  killed  if 
necessary.  They  must  not  shave,  cut  or  pull  out  a 
single  hair,  or  pluck  a  single  blade  of  grass,  and 
they  must  not  wear  anything  on  their  heads.  They 
would  have  to  sacrifice  a  sheep  for  each  rule  they 
broke. 

At  3  o'clock  the  crowds  of  white-robed  pilgrims 
hurried  forward  again,  and  towards  evening  came  to 
a  narrow  pass  between  high  precipitous  cliffs.  The 
road  was  up  the  rocky  bed  of  a  dried-up  stream.  It 
was  an  ominous-looking  place  and  all  voices  were  hushed 
as  they  approached.  Suddenly  a  curl  of  blue  smoke 
was  seen  high  up  on  the  precipice,  and  a  dromedary 
rolled  over  shot  through  the  heart.  At  the  same 
moment  the  report  of  the  gun  was  heard.  The  caravan 
was  thrown  into  complete  confusion  and  no  one  seemed 
to  have  the  least  idea  of  what  to  do,  until  the  fierce- 
looking  Wahhabis  came  galloping  up  '  with  their  elf- 


RICHARD  BURTON  85 

locks  tossing  in  the  wind,  and  their  flaring  matches 
casting  a  strange  lurid  light  over  their  features.'  Under 
the  direction  of  Sharif  Zayd,  an  Arab  nobleman  who 
had  vowed  some  time  previously  that  he  would  not 
leave  the  caravan  until  it  was  within  sight  of  the  walls 
of  Meccah,  the  Wahhabis  swarmed  up  the  hills  and  put 
the  robbers  to  flight. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  skirmish  Burton  had  got 
his  pistols  ready ;  but  when  he  saw  that  there  was 
nothing  to  be  done,  wishing  to  make  an  impression,  he 
called  loudly  for  his  supper.  Shaykh  Nur  was  much 
too  frightened  to  move.  The  boy  Mohammed  could 
only  gasp,  '  Oh,  sir,'  and  the  disgusted  neighbours 
exclaimed,  '  By  Allah,  he  eats  ! '  Shaykh  Abdullah 
was  the  only  one  who  showed  any  amusement.  He 
called  out  to  know  if  these  were  Afghan  manners. 
'  Yes,'  shouted  Burton,  '  in  my  country  we  always  dine 
before  an  attack  by  robbers,  because  that  gentry  is 
in  the  habit  of  sending  men  to  bed  supperless.' 

When  the  firing  had  died  down  the  pilgrims  hurried 
on  as  fast  as  they  could,  each  trying  to  pass  his  neigh- 
bours. Many  accidents  resulted  and  boxes  and  baggage 
lay  strewn  upon  the  road.  There  was  no  path  and  the 
camels  stumbled  continually  in  the  dark  against  rocks 
and  trees  and  stony  banks.  Burton  passed  the  night 
crying,  '  Hai  !  Hai  !  '  to  his  camel  and  trying  in  vain 
to  keep  Mas'ud's  greedy,  lazy  nephew  from  sleeping 
on  the  water- bags. 

At  about  8  on  the  morning  of  the  10th  the  weary 
pilgrims  halted  at  Wady  Laymun,  the  Valley  of  Limes, 
and  refreshed  themselves  under  the  trees  with  a 
breakfast  of  limes,  pomegranates  and  fresh  dates,  and 
the   sound   of   a   bubbling   stream.     At    noon   Mas'ud 


86   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

hurried  them  on  again  through  the  gardens  and  villages 
and  then  up  another  steep  rocky  pass.  At  dusk  they 
looked  in  vain  for  a  sight  of  Meccah  up  the  long  winding 
valley.  Not  till  1  a.m.  were  there  shouts  of  '  Meccah  ! 
Meccah  !  The  Sanctuary  !  The  Sanctuary  !  '  Burton 
looking  out  of  his  litter  saw  the  dim  outlines  of  the  city, 
but  it  was  too  dark  to  see  more. 

At  two  o'clock  they  arrived  at  the  door  of  the  boy 
Mohammed's  house.  The  Indian  porter  was  sleepy 
and  cross  and  had  to  be  kicked  and  shaken  before  he 
could  wake  up  enough  to  understand  who  they  were 
and  open  the  gates.  Mohammed  left  Burton  in  the 
street  while  he  rushed  upstairs  to  find  his  mother,  and 
their  glad  cries  of  greeting  were  heard  a  few  minutes 
later.  When  the  boy  returned  he  had  quite  lost  his 
jaunty  manner  and  had  become  a  grave  and  courteous 
host.  He  led  Burton  into  the  house  and  brought 
him  an  excellent  dish  of  vermicelli  before  going  to 
sleep. 

At  dawn  Burton,  as  a  true  pilgrim,  had  to  be  up 
and  dressed  and  ready  for  the  first  visit  to  the  Mosque. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  sympathise  with  his  feelings  as  he 
walked  down  the  long  flights  of  steps,  crossed  the  cloister, 
and  looked  at  last  on  the  Bayt  Allah,  which  so  few 
Europeans  had  ever  seen.  His  dream  of  years  was 
fulfilled.  He  had  accomplished  his  plan  and  the  great 
square  Ka'abah — the  Holy  House — covered  with  its 
black  and  gold  pall,  stood  in  front  of  him.  He  was  as 
excited  as  any  pilgrim  there,  not  with  the  ecstasy  of 
the  true  Moslem  but  with  the  pride  of  a  well-deserved 
success  won  by  great  skill  and  courage,  and  by  patient 
endurance  of  the  many  hardships  and  discomforts  of 
the  long  journey. 


RICHARD  BURTON  87 

6.  Holy  Week  at  Meccah 

The  ceremonies  of  the  Holy  Week  at  Meccah  had 
still  to  be  gone  through,  and  Burton  had  plenty  of  hard 
work  in  front  of  him.  Before  leaving  the  Mosque  on 
the  first  morning  he  had  to  kiss  the  famous  Black  Stone 
at  the  eastern  corner  of  the  Ka'abah.  It  was  besieged 
by  Badawi  and  pilgrims,  and  not  until  the  boy 
Mohamitied  had  enlisted  the  help  of  a  dozen  strong 
Meccans  could  he  and  Burton  get  near  it.  They  then 
kept  it  to  themselves  for  ten  minutes,  and  while  kissing 
and  rubbing  his  hands  and  forehead  on  it  Burton  was 
able  to  examine  it  thoroughly.  Other  prayers  and 
rites  followed,  and  the  weary  pilgrims  did  not  get  home 
till  after  10  o'clock. 

In  the  evening  they  went  there  again  with  a  prayer 
rug  and  a  lantern.  The  oval  marble  pavement  round 
the  Ka'abah  was  thronged  with  men,  women,  and 
children  performing  their  devotions  in  the  moonlight. 
Burton  stayed  till  2  a.m.,  but  the  place  was  still  crowded 
with  pilgrims,  many  of  whom  were  passing  the  night 
there  before  the  journey  next  day  to  Mount  Arafat, 
Parties  of  them  '  sat  upon  their  rugs  with  lanterns  in 
front  of  them,  conversing,  praying,  and  contemplating 
the  Ka'abah.  The  cloisters  were  full  of  merchants 
who  resorted  there  to  "talk  shop,"  and  to  vend 
such  holy  goods  as  combs,  tooth-sticks  and  rosaries. 
Shaykh  Nur  and  the  boy  Mohammed  presently  fell 
asleep,  and  Burton  went  up  to  the  Ka'abah  meaning 
to  tear  off  a  piece  of  the  Kiswet  or  curtain  which  by  now 
was  much  worn  and  tattered.  Too  many  people  were 
about  still,  but  with  the  help  of  a  piece  of  tape  and  by 
pacing  up  and  down  the  building,   Burton  was  able 


88   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

to  measure  a  great  deal.  Moslems  generally  try  to 
procure  a  strip  of  the  old  curtain  as  a  keepsake,  and 
it  can  be  bought  from  the  officials  of  the  temple,  who 
make  as  much  money  as  they  can  in  this  way.  Waist- 
coats cut  out  of  it  render  the  wearer  invulnerable  in 
battle,  and  pieces  are  sent  as  gifts  even  to  princes. 
The  boy  Mohammed  gave  Burton  a  piece  to  take  away 
when  he  left  Meccah. 

At  dawn  the  next  day  Shaykh  Ma'sud  brought  his 
camels  to  the  door.  He  was  impatient  to  start  before 
the  big  caravans  got  under  weigh,  but  the  pilgrims  did 
not  actually  mount  until  10  o'clock.  They  were  over- 
taken as  they  halted  for  the  midday  prayer  by  the 
Damascus  Caravan.  '  It  was  a  grand  spectacle,'  writes 
Burton.  '  The  Mahmil  (the  Sultan's  litter),  no  longer 
naked  as  upon  the  line  of  march,  flashed  in  the  sun  all 
green  and  gold.  Around  the  moving  host  of  white- 
robed  pilgrims  hovered  a  crowd  of  Badawi,  male  and 
female,  all  mounted  on  swift  dromedaries,  and  many 
of  them  armed  to  the  teeth.'  They  hoped  to  catch 
some  enemy  unprepared  at  Arafat  and  to  murder  him 
without  further  trouble. 

Mas'ud's  party  arrived  at  the  Holy  Hill  about  3  in 
the  afternoon.  Men  and  camels  were  both  worn  out, 
and  Burton  saw  several  pilgrims  fall  down  dead  by  the 
roadside.  The  boy  Mohammed  was  tired  of  travelling 
as  companion  to  a  Darwaysh,  and  was  determined  to 
be  grand  for  once.  He  spread  handsome  Persian  rugs 
before  the  tent  and  a  silk-cushioned  diwan  within. 
Coffee  was  prepared  and  everything  arranged  as  comfort- 
ably and  smartly  as  possible,  and  he  insisted  on  Burton 
wearing  a  handsome  red  cashmere  shaAvl  of  his  own. 

Arafat,  according  to  the  Arabian  legend,  is  the  liill 


RICHARD  BURTON  89 

where  Eve  was  thrown  down  when  she  and  Adam 
forfeited  Heaven  by  eating  wheat.  Here  she  remained 
until  found  at  last  by  Adam,  who  had  landed  at  Ceylon, 
and  had  walked  all  over  the  earth  looking  for  her.  The 
huge  pilgrim  camp  was  a  confusion  of  sights  and  sounds 
and  smells.  This  camp  of  townsfolk  was  a  great  con- 
trast to  the  cleanliness  of  a  Badawin  camp.  '  Poor 
Mas'ud,'  says  Burton,  '  sat  holding  his  nose  in  ineffable 
disgust,  for  which  he  was  derided  by  the  Meccans.  I 
consoled  him  with  quoting  the  celebrated  song  of  May- 
sunah,  the  beautiful  Badawi  wife  of  the  Caliph 
Mu'awiyah. 

'  O  take  these  purple  robes  away. 

Give  back  my  cloak  of  camel's  hair, 
And  bear  me  from  this  tow'ring  pile 

To  where  the  Black  Tents  flap  i'  the  air. 
The  camel's  colt  with  falt'ring  tread, 

The  dog  that  bays  at  all  but  me, 
Delights  me  more  than  ambling  mules — 

Than  every  art  of  minstrelsy  ; 
And  any  cousin,  poor  but  free. 

Might  take  me,  fatted  ass  !    from  thee.' 

Maysunah  was  overheard  by  her  husband — the 
'  fatted  ass  ' — singing  this  song,  and  he  promptly  sent 
her  back  to  her  beloved  wilds. 

The  Badawi  shout  with  joy  when  they  hear  it,  and 
old  Mas'ud  clapped  Burton  on  the  shoulder,  saying, 
'  Verily,  O  Father  of  Moustachios,  I  will  show  thee  the 
black  tents  of  my  tribe  this  year.' 

Sleep  was  made  impossible  that  night  by  an  old 
gentleman  in  a  neighbouring  tent  who  muttered  his 


90   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

prayers  aloud  without  a  pause  until  dawn,  when  the 
cannon  warned  everyone  to  get  up  and  prepare  for 
the  ceremonies  of  the  day.  The  final  and  most  im- 
portant of  these  was  the  three  hours'  sermon  which 
lasted  till  near  sunset.  Then  the  '  Israf  '  or  permis- 
sion to  depart  was  given  and  the  '  Hurry  from  Arafat ' 
began. 

Burton's  old  acquaintance,  Ali  bin  Ya  Sin,  had 
turned  up  again  earlier  in  the  day,  and  he  now  insisted 
on  climbing  into  Burton's  Shugduf  for  the  return 
journey.  Burton  was  disgusted,  for  he  wanted  to 
sketch  the  Holy  Hill  as  he  rode  away.  An  idea  came 
to  him.  He  began  to  toss  about  in  the  Shugduf  till 
it  rocked.  '  Effendi  !  '  said  old  Ali,  '  sit  quiet  ;  there 
is  danger  here.'  Burton  continued  to  toss  about  as 
if  he  had  either  a  very  bad  conscience  or  an  appalling 
stomach  ache.  '  Effendi,'  shrieked  the  old  man,  '  what 
art  thou  doing  ?  Thou  wilt  be  the  death  of  us.' 
'  Wallah  !  '  answered  Burton,  rolling  over  again,  '  it  is 
all  thy  fault !  There  !  '  (another  plunge)  '  put  thy 
beard  out  of  the  other  opening,  and  Allah  will  make 
it  easy  to  us.'  The  old  man  was  so  terrified  that  he 
did  as  he  was  told,  and  Burton  had  time  to  make  a 
hurried  sketch  from  the  opening  at  the  back. 

They  slept  that  night  at  Muna,  and  after  throwing 
their  seven  stones  apiece  at  the  '  Great  Devil '  (a  pillar 
near  the  village),  returned  to  Meccah.  Soon  after  their 
return  the  boy  Mohammed  rushed  in  in  great  excite- 
ment and  told  Burton  to  hurry  up  and  dress,  for  the 
Ka'abah  was  open  and  the  crowd  had  not  yet  arrived. 
The  Ka'abah  was  decked  in  its  new  covering,  which 
is  brought  each  year  by  the  caravan,  and  an  official 
stood  at  the  door  holding  a  huge  silver-gilt  padlock. 


RICHARD  BURTON  91 

After  asking  various  questions  as  to  Burton's  name 
and  nationality,  he  let  him  enter.  He  describes  his 
feelings  inside  that  windowless  building  with  the 
officials  at  the  door  and  the  excited  crowd  outside  as 
those  of  a  rat  in  a  trap.  Had  he  been  suspected  in 
that  place  of  being  a  Christian  nothing  could  have 
saved  him  from  the  knives  of  the  enraged  fanatics. 
However,  he  made  many  observations  and  a  rough 
plan  in  pencil  on  his  white  garment  while  reciting  his 
lengthy  prayers.  He  returned  home  at  last,  safe  but 
much  exhausted,  and  at  once  washed  himself  in  henna 
and  warm  water  to  ease  the  pain  of  the  sun-scalds  on 
his  exposed  arms  and  chest. 

On  September  19,  when  the  Umrah  or  Little 
Pilgrimage  was  over,  the  boy  Mohammed  took  Burton 
round  the  town  sight-seeing.  Mounted  on  donkeys 
they  made  various  Holy  Visitations  and  ended  up  with 
a  grand  dinner  with  old  Ali  bin  Ya  Sin,  and  other 
worldly  pleasures  which  everyone  was  now  allowed  to 
enjoy  again. 

Burton  had  decided  to  return  at  once  to  Cairo  and 
from  there  to  try  again  to  reach  the  interior  of  the 
country.  He  hired  two  camels  and  sent  Shaykh  Nur 
on  ahead  with  the  luggage.  He  and  the  boy  Mohammed, 
who  was  to  accompany  him  as  far  as  Jeddah  on  the 
coast,  were  to  follow  on  donkeys.  Omar  Effendi 
meant  to  slip  away  from  Meccah  and  join  them  as 
soon  as  his  father  had  started  back  to  Al-Madinah  in 
command  of  the  Dromedary  Caravan. 

The  journey  to  the  coast  was  comparatively  easy. 
Coffee-houses  abounded,  and  a  halt  was  called  for  re- 
freshments every  five  miles.  At  Al-Haddah,  about 
eight  leagues  from  Jeddah,  the  boy  Mohammed  slept 


92   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

so  soundly  that  he  could  hardly  be  roused  at  the  end 
of  the  half  hour's  halt.  At  the  next  coffee-house,  an 
hour  later,  he  threw  himself  on  the  ground  and  said  it 
was  impossible  to  go  on.  The  donkey-boy  became  very 
impudent  and  threatened  to  go  away  with  the  rest  of 
the  party  and  leave  Burton  and  his  companion  to  their 
fate.  Burton  promptly  knocked  him  over  and  he 
retired  discomforted.  One  of  the  party,  an  Egyptian, 
then  exclaimed  briskly  :  '  Yallah  !  Rise  and  mount ; 
thou  art  only  losing  our  time  ;  thou  dost  not  intend 
to  sleep  in  the  Desert.'  To  which  Burton  replied  : 
'  O  my  Uncle,  do  not  exceed  in  talk,'  which  amounted 
to  saying  '  Don't  be  impertinent.'  He  then  rolled  over 
and  pretended  to  snore.  Mohammed,  who  had  been 
roused  by  the  dispute,  now  settled  the  matter.  '  Do 
you  know,'  he  whispered  in  awful  tones,  pointing  to 
Burton,  '  what  that  person  is  ?  '  '  Why,  no,'  said  the 
others.  '  Well,'  said  the  youth,  '  the  other  day  the 
Utaybah  showed  us  death  in  the  Zaribah  Pass,  and  what 
do  you  think  he  did  ?  '  '  Wallah  !  what  do  we  know  ?  ' 
said  the  Egyptian.  '  What  did  he  do  ?  '  'He  called 
for — his  dinner  !  '  said  the  youth  with  great  emphasis 
and  sarcasm.  After  this  he  and  Burton  were  left  to 
sleep  in  peace. 

On  reaching  Jeddah  Burton  found  he  had  no  money 
left  to  pay  his  donkey  boy,  and  that  he  must  cash  a 
draft  given  him  by  the  Royal  Geographical  Society. 
Mr.  Cole  the  Vice-Consul,  on  whom  he  called  several 
times,  was  said  to  be  suffering  from  a  fever  and  unable 
to  see  anyone.  At  last  Burton  got  a  note  sent  up  to 
him,  and  when  he  introduced  himself,  after  admission 
to  Mr.  Cole's  room,  as  an  English  officer,  he  was  most 
hospitably  welcomed. 


RICHARD  BURTON  93 

One  morning,  soon  after,  Omar  Effendi  arrived  very 
tired  and  dragging  a  still  more  weary  donkey  behind 
him.  He  was  given  a  pipe  and  a  cup  of  tea  and  then 
hidden  in  a  dark  hole  full  of  grass  where  he  could  sleep 
in  safety,  should  his  father  pursue  him,  as  he  feared  he 
would. 

He  was  quite  right.  The  next  morning  his  father 
appeared,  and  '  having  ascertained,'  says  Burton, 
'  from  the  porter  that  the  fugitive  was  in  the  house, 
politely  called  upon  me.  Whilst  he  plied  all  manner 
of  questions,  his  black  slave  furtively  stared  at  every- 
thing in  and  about  the  room.  But  we  had  found  time 
to  cover  the  runaway  with  grass  and  the  old  gentleman 
departed,  after  a  fruitless  search.  There  was,  however, 
a  grim  smile  about  his  mouth  which  boded  no  good. 
That  evening,  returning  home  from  the  Hammam,  I 
found  the  house  in  an  uproar.  The  boy  Mohammed, 
who  had  been  miserably  mauled,  was  furious  with  rage  ; 
and  Shaykh  Nur  was  equally  unmanageable  by  reason 
of  his  fear.'  During  Burton's  absence  the  father  had 
returned  with  several  friends  and  relations  and  insisted 
on  searching  the  house  and  all  the  boxes,  in  spite  of 
Mohammed's  indignant  protests.  The  youth  got  some 
hard  blows  in  his  attempts  to  prevent  the  search,  and 
meanwhile  a  small  boy  spied  Omar  Effendi's  leg  in  the 
hole.  The  truant  was  dragged  out  and  carried  off. 
Burton,  to  console  Mohammed,  offered  to  go  and  rescue 
Omar  by  main  force,  but  the  youth  declined,  for  this 
would  have  meant  a  proper  skirmish  with  staves  and 
harder  blows  still. 

When  the  day  came  on  which  the  steamer  was  to 
leave  for  Cairo,  Burton  was  puzzled  at  Mohammed's 
great  coolness  at  parting.     Shaykh  Nur  explained  it 


94       THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

a  few  days  later.  He  said  that  when  Mohammed  had 
gone  on  board  to  say  good-bye  a  strong  suspicion 
of  the  truth  had  once  more  crossed  the  boy's  mind. 
'  Now  I  understand,'  he  said  to  Shaykh  Nur.  '  Your 
master  is  a  Sahib  from  India ;  he  hath  laughed  at 
our  beards.' 


III.    DAVID  LIVINGSTONE 

1.  The  Youth  of  an  Apostle 

David  Livingstone,  like  John  Franklin,  may  be 
described  as  a  h6rn  traveller  ;  he  had  in  a  high  degree 
the  qualities  which  are  most  necessary  for  living  in 
the  wilds,  mingling  with  strange  or  primitive  races, 
and  coping  with  every  kind  of  hardship  and  difficulty. 
But  he  differed  in  one  respect  from  all  the  other 
characters  in  this  book  :  travelling  was  never  his  object 
in  life.  His  impulse  came  not  from  the  love  of  wander- 
ing, or  of  exploring,  or  of  any  of  the  natural  sciences, 
but  from  an  ardent  desire  to  convert  the  heathen  to 
civilisation  and  especially  to  the  religion  of  Christianity. 
Everything  else  was  for  him  only  a  means  to  this  end  ; 
and  all  his  long  and  adventurous  journeys,  all  his 
geographical  and  scientific  discoveries,  were  merely 
the  wayside  experiences  and  chance  encounters  of  a 
life  devoted  to  this  more  urgent  and  absorbing  business. 
By  birth  he  was  a  Scotsman  and  a  Highlander ; 
his  family  came  from  Ulva,  the  Isle  of  Wolves,  one 
of  that  romantically  beautiful  group  of  islands  which 
lies  out  to  the  westward  of  Mull  like  a  flock  of  clouds 
in  the  sunset.  David  was  the  son  of  Niel,  whose  grand- 
father fell  in  the  battle  of  Culloden,  fighting  for  Prince 
Charlie,  and  whose  father  left  Ulva  and  went  to  live 
at  Blantyre,  near  Glasgow.  Niel  was  himself  a  man 
of  character,  and  a  leader  among  his  neighbours.     He 

95 


96   THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

was  from  his  youth  a  great  reader,  especially  of  religious 
books,  and  he  learned  Gaelic  in  order  to  read  the  Bible 
to  his  mother,  who  knew  that  language  better  than 
English.  He  belonged  to  a  Missionary  Society,  and 
was  so  keen  a  member  of  it  that  he  was  said  to  have 
'  the  very  soul  of  a  missionary.'  It  is  clear  that  a 
good  deal  of  his  character  was  inherited  by  his  second 
son,  David,  who  was  destined  to  display  it  in  a  far 
wider  sphere. 

David  was  born  in  1813,  and  at  the  age  of  ten  was 
sent  to  work  in  a  factory,  first  as  a  '  piecer,'  after- 
wards as  a  spinner.  With  part  of  his  first  week's 
wages  he  bought  a  book  on  the  rudiments  of  Latin, 
and  by  attending  an  evening  class  he  got  far  enough 
to  be  reading  Virgil  and  Horace  at  sixteen.  He  also 
devoured  all  books  that  came  his  way,  except  novels, 
which  were  then  considered  irreligious.  Besides,  he 
could  hardly  have  followed  a  story  satisfactorily,  for 
his  plan  was  to  place  the  book  on  the  spinning- jenny 
and  read  in  snatches  as  he  passed  to  and  fro  at  his 
work. 

When  he  was  in  his  twentieth  year  he  began  to 
think  seriously  about  religion,  and  chanced  to  read 
Dick's  '  Philosophy  of  a  Future  State.'  A  year  later 
he  read  an  appeal  to  the  Churches  on  behalf  of  China, 
and  felt  inspired  to  go  out  to  that  country  as  a  mission- 
ary. He  applied  accordingly  to  the  London  Missionary 
Society  ;  but  the  '  Opium  War  '  was  then  going  on, 
and  from  this  and  other  causes  it  was  not  found  possible 
to  send  him  out  at  once.  While  waiting  he  studied 
medicine  in  London,  and  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Professor  Owen  and  other  scientific  men.  Finally  he 
was  ordained  in  November   1840,   and  was  then  sent 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE  97 

out  to  Africa  to  work  in  the  Kuruman  Mission  in 
Bechuanaland.  After  two  years  he  was  authorised 
to  form  a  new  station  ;  and  during  the  next  six  j^ears 
he  actually  founded  the  three  stations  of  Mabotsa, 
Chonuane,  and  Kolobeng.  He  also  marred — his  wife 
was  Mary,  the  daughter  of  Dr.  Moffat,  the  well-known 
missionary — and  made  some  real  friendships  among 
the  native  chiefs. 

In  July  1849,  while  going  north  to  visit  a  famous 
chief,  Sebituane,  he  skirted  the  great  Kalahari  desert, 
and  discovered  the  beautiful  river  Zouga ;  then  on 
August  1  he  came  to  the  head  of  Lake  'Ngami.  This 
lake  had  never  before  been  seen  by  any  European, 
and  both  Sir  James  Alexander  before  him,  and  Francis 
Gaston  a  year  afterwards,  failed  to  reach  it.  Exactly 
two  years  later  Livingstone  succeeded  at  last  in  visiting 
Sebituane,  and  pushed  on  as  far  as  the  town  of  Linyanti, 
beyond  which  on  August  3,  1851,  he  discovered  the 
Upper  Zambesi  r  ver.  These  journeys  were  appreciated 
and  rewarded  by  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  but 
his  success  exposed  him  to  serious  criticism  in  other 
quarters — he  was  said  to  be  '  snking  the  missionary 
in  the  explorer.'  This  was  an  untrue  charge  ;  explora- 
tion was  necessary  in  order  to  meet  two  great 
d'fficulties  which  h  ndered  civilisation  in  the  Africa 
of  that  day.  One  was  the  closing  of  certain  territories 
by  the  Boers,  who  were  then  a  wandering  people  ; 
the  other  was  the  rapid  development  of  the  slave  trade 
among  the  native  tribes.  Livingstone  was  determined 
to  combat  both  these  influences  ;  the  Boers  he  fore- 
saw would  eventually  find  our  civilisation  too  powerful 
for  them — the  time  would  come  when  they  would  no 
longer  be  able  to  kill  black  men  at  will,  on  the  plea  that 


98      THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

they  had  no  souls.  About  the  cruelty  of  the  natives 
to  each  other  he  felt  more  impatient,  and  he  wrote 
home  almost  fiercely.  '  The  more  intimately  I  become 
acquainted  with  barbarians  the  more  disgusting  does 
heathenism  appear.  It  is  inconceivably  vile.  .  .  . 
They  never  visit  anywhere  but  for  the  purpose  of 
plunder  and  oppression.  They  never  go  anywhere 
but  with  a  club  or  spear  in  hand.'  He  was  sickened 
and  haunted  by  the  sight  of  lines  of  slaves  marching 
chained  together,  and  of  children  being  snatched  from 
their  mother's  side  to  be  sent  to  a  distant  market. 
Even  the  friendly  chief  Sekeletu  suddenly  one  day  in 
Livingstone's  own  presence  ordered  two  traitors  to 
be  executed ;  they  were  hewn  in  pieces  with  axes 
before  his  eyes,  and  then  thrown  to  the  crocodiles. 

Livingstone  felt  strongly  that  a  forward  policy  was 
needed  here  ;  the  only  way  to  put  an  end  to  such 
horrors  was  to  let  daylight  into  the  interior  of  Africa. 
He  resolved  to  make  a  beginning  by  forcing  his  way 
through  from  Linyanti  to  Loanda  ;  it  might  cost  him 
his  life,  but  he  had  '  fully  made  up  his  mind  as  to  the 
path  of  duty.'  To  his  brother-in-law,  Robert  Moffat, 
he  wrote  ;  '  I  shall  open  up  a  path  into  the  interior, 
or  perish.' 

2.  From  Linyanti  to  Loanda 

Linyanti  lies  in  latitude  18.9  S.  and  to  the  north- 
east of  Lake  'Ngami ;  Loanda  is  on  the  west  coast  in 
the  Portuguese  territory  south  of  the  Congo.  The 
distance  between  the  two  is  well  over  1000  miles  as 
the  crow  flies ;  by  Livingstone's  route  it  is  nearer 
1500,  and  had  never  before  been  traversed  by  any 
European.     The  journey  took  over  six  months,  from 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE  99 

November  11,  1853,  to  May  31,  1854,  and  was  not 
only  the  most  original  but  the  most  difficult  and 
dangerous  that  he  had  yet  attempted.  The  course  of 
it  was  first  up  the  Barotse  valley,  by  which  the  Zambesi 
comes  curving  down  from  the  north  ;  this  he  navigated 
with  a  flotilla  of  thirty  canoes,  and  then  went  on  up 
its  tributary  the  Leeba,  which  joins  it  from  the  north- 
west. When  the  upper  waters  of  the  Leeba  were 
reached,  the  canoes  were  abandoned  and  Livingstone 
mounted  his  ox  for  the  march  across  the  high  ground 
to  the  N.N.W.,  finally  turning  due  west  and  working 
down  to  Loanda,  which  lies  on  the  sea  level  more 
than  3000  feet  below. 

In  this  long  journey  the  points  in  the  leader's 
favour  were  few,  those  against  him  many.  The  hundred 
and  sixty  *  Makalolo  '  or  Barotse  men  who  went  with 
him  were  faithful  and  patient — '  the  best,'  he  says, 
'  that  ever  accompanied  me  '  ;  but  on  the  other  hand 
they  were  very  tame  savages  and  easily  cowed  by  the 
more  ferocious  ones  they  encountered.  The  scenery 
was  for  a  great  part  of  the  way  beautiful :  the  rich 
valleys  reminded  him  of  his  native  Vale  of  Clyde  and 
other  Scottish  landscapes.  But  in  the  lower  country 
he  suffered  from  almost  incessant  attacks  of  fever,  and 
in  the  latter  stages  of  the  journey  from  dysentery. 
Food  was  often  scarce,  and  never  suitable  for  a  fever- 
stricken  man.  Worse  still  was  the  lack  of  proper 
drugs — the  greater  part  of  his  supply  of  medicines 
was  stolen  at  the  start,  and  it  was,  of  course,  impossible 
to  replace  them.  The  disastrous  effect  of  this  loss 
cannot  be  over-estimated,  for  the  leader  was  often 
desperately  weak  and  depressed  in  body  and  mind  at 
the  very  moment  when  the  greatest  courage  and  energy 


100     THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

were  demanded  of  him.  Once,  when  he  was  shaking 
with  fever,  his  riding-ox  threw  him  and  he  fell  heavily 
on  to  his  head  ;  another  time,  when  he  was  crossing 
a  river,  the  ox  tossed  him  into  the  water  ;  heavy  rains 
drenched  him  continually,  and  there  were  always 
streams  to  be  waded,  sometimes  three  or  four  in  one 
day.  Then  when  he  was  feeling  least  able  to  deal 
with  an  enemy  or  take  a  decision  some  hostile  chief 
would  bar  the  way,  exacting  an  exorbitant  price  for 
permission  to  travel  across  his  little  territory ;  and 
Livingstone  must  stand  and  argue  with  him,  buying 
him  off  in  the  end  with  guns  or  oxen,  which  he  could 
very  ill  spare,  and  hard  put  to  it  to  save  even  his  men, 
who  were  demanded  of  him  for  slaves.  There  is  no 
need  to  enlarge  on  hardships  like  these,  or  to  say  any- 
thing of  the  courage  and  resoluteness  of  the  man  who 
could  bear  the  whole  burden  of  them  alone,  and  carry 
his  timid  and  ignorant  followers  through  with  him  to 
the  very  end. 

The  journey  began  with  a  very  cheering  success  ; 
the  expedition  met  a  trader  with  eighteen  captured 
men,  destined  to  slavery,  and  Livingstone  boldly 
summoned  him  to  set  them  free.  It  must  have  been 
quite  evident  that  he  had  no  intention  of  using  any 
but  moral  force,  but  the  man  gave  way  and  the  eighteen 
prisoners  were  released.  It  is  very  remarkable  to 
hear  how  the  influence  of  this  single  white  man,  with- 
out arms  or  official  backing,  often  prevailed  over  the 
feelings  of  the  savage  chiefs,  so  that  they  not  only 
let  him  pass  unmolested,  but  supplied  him  with 
provisions.  Some,  on  the  other  hand,  blackmailed  him 
rutlilessly.  One  day,  after  leaving  the  Zambesi,  the 
expedition  was  in  straits  for  food,  and  a  riding-ox  had 


^♦-^nleijLVfoocL 


'  Thia  he  navigated  with  a  flotilla  of  canoes. 


102    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

to  be  killed.  In  accordance  with  custom,  a  share  was 
sent  to  the  local  chief,  but  instead  of  being  at  all  mollified 
by  this,  the  chief  sent  an  impudent  message  next  day 
demanding  much  more  valuable  presents.  His  people 
crowded  round  Livingstone,  threatening  him  with 
their  weapons,  and  the  end  seemed  to  have  come ; 
but  Livingstone's  nerve  held  good,  and  he  smiled  and 
talked  them  into  reason. 

Some  days  after  this,  the  same  kind  of  agony  was 
experienced  again,  but  it  was  more  prolonged,  and 
Livingstone  suffered  more,  for  he  was  ill  of  fever  at 
the  time.  The  expedition  was  passing  through  a  tract 
of  forest  and  expected  to  be  attacked  at  any  moment. 
When  they  came  near  to  the  chief's  village  Livingstone 
went  fearlessly  in,  and  spoke  to  the  chief  in  person  ; 
the  palaver  seemed  to  be  successful,  and  welcome 
presents  were  sent  to  the  travellers'  camp — yams,  a 
goat,  fowls,  and  other  meat.  Livingstone  returned 
the  compliment  with  a  shawl  and  some  bunches  of 
beads,  and  thought  that  all  was  going  well.  In  the 
excitement  of  the  interview  he  even  threw  off  his 
fever,  or  at  any  rate  forgot  it,  but  of  course  he  paid 
for  this  afterwards  with  a  great  sense  of  sinking  and 
'  perfect  uselessness,'  the  more  depressing  to  him 
because  the  day  was  Sunday,  and  he  was  unequal  to 
the  usual  service.  On  Monday,  when  he  was  at  the 
lowest  ebb,  the  chief  turned  round  upon  him  and 
made  fresh  demands.  It  was,  says  Livingstone,  '  a 
day  of  torture.  .  .  .  After  talking  nearly  the  whole 
day  we  gave  the  old  chief  an  ox,  but  he  would  not 
take  it,  but  another.  I  was  grieved  exceedingly  to 
find  that  our  people  had  become  quite  disheartened, 
and  all  resolved  to  return  home.     All  I  can  say  has 


*  His  people  crowded  round  Livingstone,  threatening  him  with 
their  weapons.' 


104    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

no  effect.  I  can  only  look  up  to  God  to  influence  their 
minds,  that  the  enterprise  fail  not  now  that  we  have 
reached  the  very  threshold  of  the  Portuguese  settle- 
ments. I  am  greatly  distressed  at  this  change,  for 
what  else  can  be  done  for  this  miserable  land  I  do  not 
see.'  This,  however,  was  only  a  groan  to  himself 
in  his  Journal ;  outwardly  he  was  still  confident  and 
tactful.  By  Wednesday  morning  he  had  persuaded 
both  the  old  chief  and  his  own  men,  and  was  on  his 
way  again. 

The  next  two  encounters  were  still  more  trying 
ones,  for  as  the  end  of  the  march  drew  near,  the  stock 
of  articles  available  for  presents  or  blackmail  was 
almost  entirely  exhausted.  On  the  next  Sunday  but 
one  after  the  crisis  just  recorded,  another  chief  demanded 
tribute,  and  Livingstone  having  hardly  anything  left 
to  bargain  with  fell  back  upon  simple  passive  resistance. 
He  told  the  chief  that  he  might  kill  him  if  he  chose, 
and  God  would  judge  between  them.  On  Monday  the 
chief  gave  way  ;  for  in  that  country  the  natives  believed 
in  a  Supreme  Being  and  in  the  continued  existence 
of  the  soul  after  death,  though  in  a  fashion  of  their 
own  they  imagined  the  dead  man's  spirit  to  be  re- 
incarnated in  an  alligator,  a  hippopotamus,  or  a  lion. 
This  belief  was  the  cause  of  one  of  the  few  amusing 
incidents  in  a  very  trying  journey.  Livingstone  had 
provided  himself  with  a  magic  lantern,  and  used  it 
during  his  sermons,  to  show  pictures  of  Abraham 
offering  up  Isaac,  and  other  B.blical  scenes.  He 
found  this  a  very  popular  method,  but  the  congregation 
refused  to  stand  on  one  side  of  the  camera — the  side 
on  which  the  slides  were  drawn  out,  and  to  which 
therefore  the  pictures  seemed  to  move  and  disappear. 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE  105 

They  were  terrified  lest  the  figures,  as  they  passed 
along,  should  enter  into  their  bodies  and  take  possession 
of  them. 

The  last  blackmailing  crisis  came  on  the  following 
day — Tuesday.  The  expedition  had  reached  the  river 
Kwango,  in  Portuguese  territory,  when  it  was  once 
more  stopped,  and  in  his  eagerness  to  get  through  this 
last  obstacle  Livingstone  was  ready  to  give  up  every- 
thing he  had  left — his  razors  and  shirts  had  gone  and 
even  the  copper  ornaments  of  his  faithful  Makololo, 
and  he  had  made  up  his  mind,  he  says,  to  part  with 
his  blanket  and  coat,  to  bu}'  a  passage  through.  At 
the  last  moment  a  young  Portuguese  sergeant,  named 
Cypriano  de  Abrao,  suddenly  made  his  appearance, 
and  the  difficulty  was  instantly  at  an  end. 

The  outlying  Portuguese  stations  were  now  at  hand, 
and  Livingstone  was  everywhere  received  with  great 
kindness ;  his  wants  were  generously  supplied,  one 
Portuguese  gentleman  giving  him  a  new  suit  of  clothes 
and  another  the  first  wine  he  had  ever  tasted  in  Africa. 
The  traders  all  assured  him  that  they  hated  the  slave 
trade,  and  even  when  he  afterwards  discovered  that 
this  profession  of  theirs  did  not  exactly  tally  with  the 
facts,  he  never  ceased  to  be  grateful  for  their  genuine 
kindness  to  himself.  It  was  only  in  his  Journal  that 
he  allowed  himself  to  express  his  doubts  by  marginal 
notes  of  interrogation. 

He  reached  St.  Paul  de  Loanda,  the  end  of  his 
journey,  on  May  31,  1854,  with  the  twenty-seven  men 
who  had  accompanied  him  after  the  canoes  were  sent 
back.  He  was  there  laid  low  almost  immediately  by 
a  long  and  distressing  attack  of  fever  and  dysentery, 
and   he  had  to  endure  the   great   disappointment   of 


106    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

finding  not  a  single  letter  waiting  for  him.  He  was 
himself  a  great  letter  writer,  and  would  in  any  case 
have  felt  this  a  privation  ;  but  now  it  was  also  a  cause 
of  real  anxiety,  for  it  seemed  clear  that  all  his  friends 
and  even  his  own  family  must  have  given  him  up  for 
lost.  In  this  trying  time  he  was  most  kindly  cared 
for  by  Mr.  Edmund  Gabriel,  the  British  Commissioner 
for  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade,  who  was  naturally 
in  full  sympathy  with  his  views  on  the  welfare  of 
Africa. 

Under  Mr.  Gabriel's  care  he  gradually  recovered 
his  strength,  and  on  September  24  he  started  on  his 
return  journey.  This  time  his  preparations  were 
better  made,  and  the  difficulties  were  far  less  formid- 
able ;  but  owing  to  sickness  and  delays  the  distance 
took  nearly  twice  as  long  to  cover.  He  reached  Linyanti 
on  September  11,  1855,  stayed  there  till  November  3, 
and  then  fulfilled  his  amazing  enterprise  by  travelling 
the  whole  way  across  to  the  east  coast,  discovering  the 
Victoria  Falls  of  the  Zambesi  on  his  route.  He  reached 
Quilimane  in  Portuguese  East  Africa  on  May  20,  1856, 
having  this  time  traversed  the  continent  from  sea 
to  sea. 

He  then  started  home,  and  arrived  in  England  on 
December  9,  1856,  after  an  absence  of  more  than 
sixteen  years.  His  reception  was  a  great  one.  The 
Royal  Geographical  Society  had  already  in  May  1855 
voted  him  their  Gold  Medal,  and  his  volume  of  Mission- 
ary Travels  was  now  acclaimed  by  every  one  :  travel- 
lers, geographers,  zoologists,  astronomers,  missionaries, 
physicians,  and  mercantile  directors  all  admired  in  him 
a  man  who  had  gained  for  them  at  first  hand  know- 
ledge for  which  they  might  otherwise  have  waited  long, 


DAVID^  LIVINGSTONE  107 

and  no  one  who  loves  courage  and  endurance  could 
fail  to  be  interested  in  a  story  so  adventurous.  Here 
and  there  some  pious  people  regretted  once  more  his 
exploring  activity ;  but  Livingstone  only  said,  '  My 
views  of  what  is  missionary  duty  are  not  so  contracted 
as  those  whose  ideal  is  a  dumpy  sort  of  man  with  a 
Bible  under  his  arm.' 

3.  Fighting  the  Slave  Traders 

In  February  1858  Dr.  Livingstone  was  formally 
recognised  as  a  public  servant  of  the  first  importance 
in  a  line  of  his  own  ;  he  was  appointed  British  Consul 
at  Quilimane  for  the  eastern  coast  and  the  independent 
districts  in  the  interior,  and  commander  of  an  expedition 
for  exploring  Eastern  and  Central  Africa.  He  sailed 
accordingly  from  Liverpool  on  March  10,  taking  with 
him  his  wife,  and  the  sections  of  a  steam  launch  named 
with  her  African  name,  the  Ma-Robcrt,  and  intended 
for  the  navigation  of  the  Zambesi.  Mrs.  Livingstone 
was  ill,  and  had  to  be  put  ashore  at  Capetown.  Her 
husband  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Zambesi  on  May  14 
and  fitted  the  Ma-Robert  together  on  May  16,  in  spite 
of  the  day  being  a  Sunday  ;  for  the  work  had  to  be 
done  in  a  mango  swamp,  and  the  risk  of  fever  was  one 
which  he  had  only  too  much  reason  to  dread. 

The  task  now  before  him  can  best  be  understood 
by  a  glance  at  the  map.  If  a  line  is  drawn  from  Loanda 
to  Quilimane — the  line  of  Livingstone's  last  journey — 
it  will  have  to  the  south  of  it  all  that  was  then  known 
of  the  interior  of  Africa  South  and  Central,  namely 
Cape  Colony,  Bechuanaland,  the  Transvaal,  the  two 
Portuguese  territories  on  the  west  and  east  coasts, 
the  two  territories  now  named  Northern  and  Southern 


108    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

Rhodesia,  and  the  territory  for  some  years  known  as 
German  South-West  Africa.  These  were  still  largely 
barbarous  and  unsettled  lands,  but  they  had  at  any 
rate  been  opened  up  and  their  geography  was  fairly 
well  ascertained.  But  to  the  north  of  Livingstone's 
line  lay  vast  regions  still  quite  unexplored  :  to  the 
north-west  the  dense  forests  of  the  Congo  ;  to  the  north- 
east a  legendary  land  of  great  lakes,  among  which  it 
was  believed  that  the  sources  of  the  Nile  might  one 
day  be  found. 

This  latter  region  had  already  attracted  British 
travellers.  While  Livingstone  was  in  England  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society  had  marked  as  a  bom 
explorer  Captain  Richard  Burton,  who  had  already 
made  three  expeditions  to  Arabia  and  Somaliland, 
of  the  first  of  which  some  account  has  been  given 
in  a  previous  chapter  ;  and  at  their  suggestion  Captain 
Burton  and  Lieutenant  Speke  were  sent  out  by  the 
Foreign  Office  to  survey  the  unknown  Lake  district  of 
Equatorial  Africa.  They  entered  from  the  east  coast 
and  were  successful  in  their  attempt ;  they  were  the 
first  Europeans  to  see  Lake  Tanganyika,  which  they 
reached  in  February  1858.  Burton  then  fell  ill,  but 
by  July  he  had  roughly  mapped  out  the  country  from 
Arab  information,  and  during  his  disablement  Speke 
went  further  north  and  found  the  Ukerewe  Lake,  or 
Victoria  Nyanza,  exactly  where  Burton  had  placed  it 
on  his  map. 

This  part  then  of  the  work  of  opening  up  Central 
Africa  was  already  done,  but  between  Tanganyika 
and  Portuguese  East  Africa  there  still  lay  a  large 
tract  unexplored — the  territory  now  called  North- 
Eastern   Rhodesia.     It   is   a   queerly   shaped    piece   of 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE  109 

country  with  a  long  tongue  projecting  down  into  the 
very  middle  of  the  Portuguese  territory  and  extending 
to  within  100  miles  of  the  coast.  Down  this  tongue 
the  Shire  river  runs  to  join  the  Zambesi,  and  after  some 
delay  Livingstone  determined  to  use  the  Shire  as  his 
highway  to  the  north.  The  Ma-Robert  turned  out  a 
great  failure :  her  consumption  of  fuel  was  enormous, 
she  snorted  so  horribly  that  she  was  called  '  The 
Asthmatic,'  and  she  went  so  slowly  that  canoes  could 
easily  pass  her.  Still  she  made  in  1859  three  trips 
up  the  Shire,  where  no  white  man  had  ever  been  seen 
before.  The  natives  were  war-like  and  suspicious ; 
crowds  of  them  followed  the  little  steamer  and  kept 
watch  over  it  day  and  night,  ready  with  bows  and 
poisoned  arrows.  Nevertheless  Livingstone  succeeded 
in  establishing  friendly  relations  with  them. 

On  the  second  journey  he  made  a  detour  to  the  east 
and  discovered  '  a  magnificent  inland  lake '  named 
Lake  Shirwa,  which  was  absolutely  unknown  to  the 
Portuguese.  It  was  close  to  their  nominal  boundary, 
but  the  natives  had  never  allowed  them  to  enter  the 
Shire  country.  '  The  lake,'  Livingstone  wrote  to  his 
daughter  Agnes,  '  was  very  grand,  for  we  could  not 
see  the  end  of  it,  though  some  way  up  a  mountain  ; 
and  all  around  it  are  mountains  much  higher  than 
any  you  see  in  Scotland.  One  mountain  stands  in  the 
lake,  and  people  live  on  it.  Another,  called  Zomba, 
is  more  than  6000  feet  high,  and  people  live  on  it  too, 
for  we  could  see  their  gardens  on  its  top,  which  is 
larger  than  from  Glasgow  to  Hamilton,  or  about  15 
to  18  miles.  .  .  .  No  one  was  impudent  to  us  except 
some  slave  traders  ;  but  they  became  civil  as  soon 
as  they  learned  we  were  English  and  not  Portuguese. 


110    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

We  saw  the  sticks  they  employ  for  training  anyone 
whom  they  have  just  bought.  One  is  about  8  feet 
long  :  the  head,  or  neck  rather,  is  put  into  the  space 
(at  the  forked  end)  and  another  slave  carries  the  butt 
end.  When  they  are  considered  tame  they  are  allowed 
to  go  in  chains.  I  am  working  in  the  hope  that  in  the 
course  of  time  this  horrid  system  may  cease.' 

On  the  third  journey,  in  August,  he  discovered 
Lake  Nyassa,  an  immensely  greater  lake  further  to 
the  north.  The  importance  of  the  African  lakes,  and 
especially  of  Shirwa  and  Nyassa,  lies  in  their  position, 
parallel  to  the  sea-coast.  They  form  a  long  barrier 
through  which  traffic  from  the  interior  to  the  coast 
can  only  pass  by  certain  gaps,  of  which  one  is  the  Shire 
highlands ;  and  though  it  is  a  roundabout  route, 
this  was  in  fact  the  great  highway  for  conveying  slaves 
from  the  north  and  north-west  to  Zanzibar.  Living- 
stone made  plans  for  the  establishment  of  a  British 
colony  in  this  country,  to  be  a  centre  of  civilisation 
and  block  the  slave-route. 

After  this  nearly  two  years  were  spent  in  starting 
the  Universities  Mission  ;  then  at  the  end  of  April 
1862  Mrs.  Livingstone  died  at  Shupanga  after  a  few 
days'  illness.  As  soon  as  he  could  rally  from  this 
heavy  blow  Dr.  Livingstone  put  together  a  new  steamer, 
the  Lady  Nyassa,  and  began  to  explore  the  Rovuma 
river  which  runs  from  near  the  east  side  of  Lake  Nyassa 
to  the  sea  at  Cape  Delgado.  He  was  spurred  on  to 
almost  desperate  energy  by  the  fact  that  his  discoveries 
had  actually  stimulated  the  activity  of  the  slave- 
hunters  and  slave-traders,  under  the  protection  of 
the  Portuguese  local  authorities.  This  was  '  opening 
up  the  country  '  in  a  disastrous  sense,  and  a  struggle 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE  111 

began  between  Livingstone  and  the  traders  which  ended 
for  the  time  in  his  defeat.  The  desolation  caused  by 
Mar  anno,  the  Portuguese  slave-agent,  was  heart- 
breaking. Livingstone's  boat  steamed  through  the 
floating  bodies  of  runaway  slaves  ;  in  the  morning 
the  paddles  had  to  be  cleared  of  corpses  caught  by  the 
floats  during  the  night.  When  he  landed  he  found 
even  more  terrible  sights.  '  Wherever  we  took  a 
walk,  human  skeletons  were  seen  in  every  direction.  .  .  . 
A  whole  heap  had  been  thrown  down  a  slope  behind 
a  village,  where  the  fugitives  often  crossed  the  river 
from  the  east,  and  in  one  hut  of  the  same  village  no 
fewer  than  twenty  drums  had  been  collected,  probably 
the  ferryman's  fees.  Many  had  ended  their  misery 
under  shady  trees,  others  under  projecting  crags  in 
the  hills,  while  others  lay  in  the  huts  with  closed  doors, 
which  when  opened  disclosed  the  mouldering  corpse 
with  the  poor  rags  round  the  loins,  the  skull  fallen  off 
the  pillow,  the  little  skeleton  of  the  child,  that  had 
perished  first,  rolled  up  in  a  mat  between  two  large 
skeletons.  The  sight  of  this  desert,  but  eighteen 
months  ago  a  well-peopled  valley,  now  literally  strewn 
with  human  bones,  forced  the  conviction  upon  us 
that  the  destruction  of  human  life  in  the  Middle  Passage 
(at  sea),  however  great,  constitutes  but  a  small  portion 
of  the  waste,  and  made  us  feel  that  unless  the  slave 
trade — that  monster  iniquity  which  has  so  long  brooded 
over  Africa — is  put  down,  lawful  commerce  cannot 
be  established.' 

This  was  a  moderate  statement  and  a  common- 
sense  view,  but  it  was  not  likely  to  commend  itself  to 
Marianno,  or  the  local  authorities  who  supported  him, 
or  to  the  Portuguese  Government  at  home,  who  were 


112    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

restive    at    being    remonstrated    with    by    the    British 
Government  and  wished  to  keep  the  rivers  shut  against 
Dr.  Livingstone  and  his  like.     In  July  1863  a  despatch 
arrived  from   Earl  Russell,  intimating  to   Livingstone 
that  he  and  his  expedition  were  recalled.     The  reasons 
given   by   Earl   Russell   were   Treasury   reasons.     The 
expedition,  he  said,  though  not  through  any  fault  of 
Dr.  Livingstone's,  had  failed  to  accomplish  the  objects 
for  which  it  had  been  designed,  and  had  proved  much 
more  costly  than  was  originally  expected.     The  reasons 
not  given,  but  probably  felt  quite  as  strongly,   were 
Foreign  Office  reasons  :    relations  with  the  Portuguese 
Government  were  becoming  too  uncomfortable  ;     Dr. 
Livingstone's     uncompromising     and     unconventional 
methods  were  perhaps  inconsistent  with  the  rights  of 
a  friendly  Power.     This  possibility  had  been  pointed 
out  from  the  beginning  by  the  Prince  Consort,  who 
had  on  this  very  ground  refused  to  be  Patron  of  the 
Universities    Mission  ;     and    Livingstone    received    his 
recall  with  calmness,   so  far  as  his  own  Government 
was  concerned.     But  towards  the  Portuguese  he  felt 
very  differently  ;    on  them  lay  a  grave  responsibility 
for   stopping   the   work   which   would   have   conferred 
untold  blessings  on  Africa.     The  ending  of  the  Uni- 
versities Mission  and  all  its  hopes  brought  Livingstone 
to   the   hardest   and   most   depressing   moment   of   his 
career.     He  resolved  to  go  home  for  a  few  months,  and 
then  to  look  for  a  new  route  to  the  interior  of  Africa, 
beyond  the  reach  of  Marianno  and  his  supporters. 

4.  Lost  to  the  World 

Livingstone  went  to  England  by  way  of  Zanzibar 
and  Bombay,  making  a  stay  of  only  a  few  days  in 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE  113 

India,  and  reaching  London  in  July  1864.  He  spent 
a  full  year  in  England,  and  left  again  in  August  1865 
to  make  his  third  and  last  great  African  journey.  His 
object,  as  stated  by  himself,  was  as  follows  :  '  Our 
Government  have  supported  the  proposal  of  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society  and  have  united  with  that  body 
to  aid  me  in  another  attempt  to  open  Africa  to  civil- 
ising influences.  I  propose  to  go  inland,  north  of  the 
territory  which  the  Portuguese  in  Europe  claim,  and 
endeavour  to  commence  that  system  on  the  east  which 
has  been  so  successful  on  the  west  coast — combining 
the  repressive  efforts  of  Her  Majesty's  cruisers  with 
lawful  trade  and  Christian  Missions.  I  hope  to  ascend 
the  Rovuma,  or  some  other  river  north  of  Cape  Del- 
gado,  and  in  addition  to  my  other  work,  shall  strive 
by  passing  along  the  northern  end  of  Lake  Nyassa 
and  round  the  southern  end  of  Lake  Tanganyika,  to 
ascend  the  watershed  of  that  part  of  Africa.'  The  first 
part  of  this  scheme  was  his  own,  the  second  he  had 
been  urged  to  undertake  by  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society.  He  was  once  more  given  the  honorary  posi- 
tion of  Consul,  but  the  funds  provided  were  utterly 
inadequate. 

His  outward  journey  was  again  by  Bombay  and 
Zanzibar,  and  on  March  19,  1866,  he  left  Zanzibar  in 
H.M.S.  Penguin  for  the  mouth  of  the  Rovuma.  His 
company  consisted  of  thirteen  Sepoys,  ten  Johanna 
men,  nine  Nassick  boys,  two  Shupanga  men,  and  two 
Waiyau.  Musa,  one  of  the  Johanna  men,  had  been 
a  sailor  in  the  Lady  Nyassa;  Susi  and  Amoda,  the 
Shupanga  men,  had  been  wood- cutters  for  another 
boat,  the  Pioneer ;  and  the  two  Waiyau  lads,  Wikatani 
and  Chuma,  had  been  slaves,  rescued  in  1861  by  Living- 


114    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

stone  and  kept  at  the  mission  station.  Besides  these 
there  were  six  camels,  three  buffaloes  and  a  calf,  two 
mules  and  four  donkeys  ;  these  were  all  brought  from 
India  as  an  experiment,  to  see  if  they  could  resist  the 
bite  of  the  tsetse-fly,  and  so  solve  one  of  the  problems 
of  Africa. 

Livingstone  had  not  one  white  companion  with 
him  on  this  long  and  formidable  journey  into  the 
unknown,  but  he  started  in  good  spirits.  He  gives 
two  reasons  for  this,  and  they  almost  sum  up  the 
man.  '  The  mere  animal  pleasure  of  travelling  in  a 
wild  unexplored  country  is  very  great.  .  .  .  The  sweat 
of  one's  brow  is  no  longer  a  curse  when  one  works  for 
God  :  it  proves  a  tonic  to  the  system,  and  is  actually 
a  blessing.' 

But  in  a  very  short  time  troubles  began  which  cost 
him  something  more  than  the  sweat  of  his  brow.  He 
reached  Nyas^.a  on  August  8,  bathed  in  the  lake,  and 
felt  quite  exhilarated.  By  the  28th  he  was  writing 
to  his  son  Thomas  :  '  The  Sepoys  were  morally  unfit 
for  travel,  and  then  we  had  hard  lines,  all  of  us.  Food 
was  not  to  be  had  for  love  or  money.  Our  finest  cloths 
only  brought  miserable  morsels  of  common  grain.  I 
trudged  it  the  whole  way,  and  having  no  animal  food 
save  what  turtle-doves  and  guinea-fowls  we  occasionally 
shot,  I  became  like  one  of  Pharaoh's  lean  kine.'  Most 
of  the  Sepoys  had  to  be  sent  back  to  the  coast  :  they 
and  the  Nassick  boys  treated  the  transport  animals 
abominably.  The  Johanna  men  were  always  stealing. 
The  horrible  traces  of  the  slave  trade  were  seen  in  every 
direction  :  women  were  found  dead,  tied  to  trees,  or 
lying  in  the  path  shot  and  stabbed,  merely  for  being 
unable  to  keep  up  with  the  march  of  the  slave  gang  ; 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE  115 

men  were  found  dying  with  the  slave  sticks  still  on 
their  necks. 

As  a  climax  to  all  this  came  the  strike  of  the  Johanna 
men.  Musa,  one  of  the  chief  of  them,  was  spoken  to 
at  Marenga's  village  in  September  by  an  Arab  slaver, 
who  told  him  that  the  country  ahead  was  full  of  men 
of  the  warlike  tribe  of  the  Mazitu  ;  that  they  had 
recently  killed  forty-four  Arabs  and  their  followers 
at  Kasunga,  and  he  alone  had  escaped.  At  this  Musa 
was  panic- struck ;  both  Marenga  and  Livingstone 
assured  him  that  the  expedition  was  not  going  any- 
where near  the  Mazitu,  but  he  and  all  the  other  Johanna 
men  were  determined  to  go  back  to  Zanzibar,  and  they 
went.  Their  action  had  extraordinary  consequences. 
In  order  to  get  their  pay  at  Zanzibar,  when  they  arrived 
there  in  December,  they  had  to  give  a  plausible  reason 
for  coming  back ;  obviously  the  most  suitable  story 
was  that  their  leader  was  no  longer  alive.  Musa 
therefore  stated  positively  that  Livingstone  had  been 
murdered  ;  that  he  had  crossed  Lake  Nyassa  to  its 
western  or  north-western  shore  and  was  pushing  on, 
when  beyond  the  villages  of  Matarka,  Maponda, 
Marenga  and  Maksowa,  a  band  of  savages  stopped  the 
way  and  rushed  upon  the  party.  Livingstone,  he  said, 
fired  twice  and  killed  two ;  but  while  he  was  reloading 
three  men  rushed  upon  him  through  the  smoke,  one 
of  whom  felled  him  with  an  axe  stroke  from  behind, 
which  nearly  severed  his  head  from  his  body.  The 
Johanna  men  fled  into  the  jungle,  but  afterwards 
returned,  found  their  master's  body,  and  buried  it 
in  a  shallow  grave  dug  with  stakes. 

Dr.  Seward  and  Dr.  Kirk  of  Zanzibar  cross-examined 
Musa  upon  this  story,   but  in  the  end  they  were  con- 


116  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAH. 

vinced,  and  sent  a  statement  home  ;  then,  as  a  fast 
American  ship  happened  to  be  sailing  for  Aden,  Dr. 
Kirk  wrote  the  following  note  to  Mr.  Bates,  the  acting 
Secretary  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  and  it 
arrived  before  the  despatches  which  had  already  gone 
by  the  Cape  and  St.  Helena. 

Zanzibar,  Dec.  26,  1866. 

My  dear  Bates, — I  have  written  fully  to  Sir 
Roderick  (Murchison)  three  weeks  ago  with  all  the 
information  we  yet  have  got  regarding  poor  Living- 
stone. .  .  .  On  the  5th  of  December  nine  Johanna 
men  of  the  party  which  accompanied  Dr.  Livingstone 
came  to  Zanzibar,  reporting  that  on  the  west  of  Nyassa, 
some  time  between  the  end  of  July  and  September, 
they  were  suddenly  attacked  by  a  band  of  Mazitu  and 
that  Dr.  Livingstone,  with  half  his  party,  were  murdered. 
Those  who  returned  escaped,  as  they  say,  through 
being  behind  and  unseen,  and  they  all  depose  to  having 
helped  to  bury  the  dead  body  of  their  leader  the  same 
evening.  Although  in  the  details,  and  in  other  things, 
the  accounts  of  the  various  men  differ,  they  all  agree 
that  they  saw  the  body  and  that  it  had  one  wound — 
that  of  an  axe — on  the  back  of  the  neck.  One  man 
saw  the  fatal  blow  given.  The  attack  was  sudden, 
but  Dr.  Livingstone  had  time  to  overpower  those  that 
faced  him  and  was  struggling  to  reload  when  cut  down 
from  behind.  I  fear  the  story  is  true,  and  that  we 
shall  never  know  more  of  its  details.  Full  statements 
have  gone  home,  but  this  may  reach  Aden  by  an 
American  vessel.  You  will  see  if  this  arrives  first 
that  we  have  sad  news  for  the  Society  on  the  way. 

I  remain. 
Yours, 

J.  Kirk. 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE  117 

To  the  present  generation  it  will  not  be  easy  to 
understand  the  excitement  caused  by  this  letter  when 
it  reached  England  early  in  1867.  Dr,  Livingstone 
held  much  the  same  position  with  his  fellow  country- 
men that  General  Gordon  was  to  fill  twenty-five  years 
later ;  to  perhaps  three  in  four  of  them  he  was  an 
almost  legendary  hero,  to  the  rest  a  rather  troublesome 
fanatic;  but  none  would  have  denied  that  whatever 
he  was,  he  was  certainly  the  most  famous  man  then 
living  in  the  British  Empire.  His  adventures  weie 
as  well  known  as  the  stories  in  the  Bible,  and  the  news 
of  his  death  touched  the  pulse  of  millions.  Opinion 
was  sharply  divided  over  it ;  Kirk's  letter  seemed 
conclusive  to  the  majority,  but  there  was  an  uncon- 
vinced minority,  and  among  them  were  those  who  were 
best  qualified  to  judge.  Mr.  Edward  Young,  who  had 
travelled  with  Livingstone  in  1862,  had  seen  something 
of  Musa  and  knew  him  for  a  liar  ;  Mr.  Horace  Waller 
and  Sir  Roderick  Murchison  also  disbelieved  his  story. 
So  while  '  the  country  resounded  with  lamentations 
and  the  newspapers  were  full  of  obituary  notices,' 
the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  organised  a  search 
expedition  and  gave  Mr.  Young  the  command  of  it. 

He  sailed  on  June  9,  1867,  with  three  companions — 
Mr.  Faulkner,  John  Reid,  and  Patrick  Buckley  ;  they 
were  in  the  mouth  of  the  Zambesi  by  July  25,  and 
quickly  launched  a  steel  boat  named  the  Search  and 
some  smaller  boats.  With  these  they  went  swiftly 
up  the  Zambesi  and  Shire,  passed  the  Murchison  cata- 
racts by  taking  the  Search  to  pieces  and  carrying  it 
overland,  then  putting  it  together  again  above,  without 
a  hitch  or  a  missing  screw.  They  reached  the  south 
end  of  Lake  Nyassa,  and  were  there  driven  by  a  gale 


118    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

into  a  small  bay.  This  was  an  almost  incredible  stroke 
of  good  fortune,  for  in  this  bay  they  came  quite  un- 
expectedly upon  a  native  who  told  them  that  a  white 
man  had  been  there  towards  the  end  of  the  previous 
year  ;  and  by  his  description  this  man  was  certainly 
Livingstone.  The  expedition  had  crossed  then,  not 
by  the  northern  but  the  southern  end  of  the  lake ; 
Musa  had  given  false  evidence  on  this  point,  and  he 
might  well  be  false  on  the  rest. 

This  was  encouraging  but  not  conclusive,  and  Mr. 
Young  decided  to  search  at  an  Arab  crossing-place 
twenty  miles  further  up.  He  did  so,  and  fell  in  with 
a  large  party  of  native  fishermen,  who  had  received 
presents  from  Livingstone,  and  recognised  his  photo- 
graph among  a  number  of  others.  Other  natives  at 
the  crossing-place  told  him  that  Livingstone  had  tried 
to  cross  there,  but  had  failed  to  get  boats  and  had  gone 
south.  Mr.  Young  then  went  to  Marenga,  the  point 
at  which  the  Johanna  men  had  turned  back,  and  there 
the  chief  Marenga  told  how  he  himself  had  ferried 
Livingstone,  who  was  a  friend  of  his,  across  a  small 
inlet  of  the  lake.  At  Maksowa,  two  days  further  on, 
a  number  of  men  were  found  who  had  been  employed 
by  Livingstone  to  carry  his  baggage  twenty  miles 
towards  the  north.  Finally,  at  Maponda,  the  chief's 
mother  assured  Mr.  Young  that  Livingstone  had 
passed  through  there,  and  that  some  of  his  party  had 
afterwards  returned  that  way.  All  this  evidence 
pointed  to  what  was  indeed  the  fact,  that  Livingstone 
had  passed  safely  through  the  most  dangerous  section 
of  his  journey  and  gone  on  his  way  north,  after  being 
deserted  by  the  cowardly  Johanna  men.  The  search 
expedition  therefore  turned  back,  and  reached  England 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE  119 

with  the  welcome  news  by  February  1867.  Theit 
success  was  finally  confirmed  on  April  8  following, 
when  letters  were  received  in  London  from  Livingstone 
himself,  dated  from  a  district  far  beyond  the  place 
where  he  was  said  to  have  been  murdered.  In  reply, 
an  account  was  sent  off  to  inform  Livingstone  of  the 
Young  expedition  and  its  return  ;  the  letter  reached 
him  in  February  1870,  exactly  three  years  afterwards, 
and  nothing  could  show  more  convincingly  that 
Livingstone  was  now  almost  lost  to  the  world  of 
civilisation. 

Two  and  a  half  years  passed,  and  then  towards  the 
end  of  1869  another  letter  got  through  from  Living- 
stone. It  Avas  dated  on  May  13,  1869,  from  Ujiji  on 
the  north-east  shore  of  Lake  Tanganyika,  the  advanced 
base  to  which  he  had  ordered  stores  and  letters  to  be 
sent.  He  had  arrived  there  on  March  14,  after  discover- 
ing Lake  Bangweolo  on  the  way  ;  but  the  supplies 
he  was  expecting  had  been  delayed  or  dispersed  by  a 
war  which  was  raging  on  the  lines  of  communication 
from  the  coast.  Four  months  later  his  daughter 
Agnes  heard  from  him  that  he  was  exploring  the 
Manyuema  country  to  the  west  of  Tanganyika  ;  letters 
had  failed  to  reach  him,  but  he  had  received  from  some 
unknown  donor  copies  of  the  Saturday  Review  and  a  set 
of  Punch  for  1868,  which  were  very  welcome  to  him, 
for  he  had  long  ago  lost  all  books  but  the  Bible  and 
Smith's  '  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,'  and  of  Punch  he 
had  always  been  especially  fond. 

Another  long  silence  followed ;  then  in  January 
1871  came  a  letter  dated  September  1870  and  written 
on  a  leaf  of  his  cheque-book,  all  his  notepaper  being 
used  up.     He  was  then  at  Bambarr6,  on  the  way  to  the 


120  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAH. 

River  Lualaba,  where  floods  and  lame  feet  kept  him 
shut  up  for  over  seven  months.  '  My  chronometers 
are  all  dead,'  he  writes.  '  I  hope  my  old  watch  was 
sent  to  Zanzibar ;  but  I  have  got  no  letters  for  years, 
save  some,  three  years  old,  at  Ujiji.  I  have  an  intense 
and  sore  longing  to  finish  and  retire,  and  trust  that  the 
Almighty  may  permit  me  to  go  home.'  In  another 
letter  to  his  daughter  Agnes  he  wrote  at  this  time  : 
'  I  felt  all  along  sure  that  all  my  friends  would  wish 
me  to  make  a  complete  work  of  it,  and  in  that  wish, 
in  spite  of  every  difficulty,  I  cordially  joined.  I  hope 
to  present  to  my  young  countrymen  an  example  of 
manly  perseverance.  I  shall  not  hide  from  you  that 
I  am  made  by  it  very  old  and  shaky,  my  cheeks  fallen 
in,  space  round  the  eyes,  ditto ;  mouth  almost  tooth- 
less— a  few  teeth  that  remain,  out  of  their  line,  so  that 
a  smile  is  that  of  a  he-hippopotamus.' 

These  letters  were  the  last  received,  and  they  were 
not  such  as  to  reassure  anyone.  It  was  now  more  than 
five  years  since  Livingstone  had  started  on  his  journey, 
and  all  that  was  known  of  him  was  that  at  a  date  long 
past  he  was  lying  in  a  hut  dead  lame,  with  only  three 
followers  and  no  stores,  at  a  distance  of  forty-five  days' 
march  from  Ujiji,  which  was  itself  almost  out  of  reach 
from  England.  Dismay  fell  upon  his  friends  through- 
out the  English-speaking  world.  Meanwhile  the  un- 
defeated traveller,  ill  and  lame,  was  up  again  and 
turning  homeward.  On  July  20,  1871,  he  started  on 
his  600- mile  tramp  back  to  Ujiji ;  he  reached  it  on 
October  23,  a  living  skeleton. 

The  cargo  of  merchandise  which  should  have  been 
there  had  indeed  arrived,  but  the  Arab  Shereef,  to 
whom  it  had  been  consigned,  had  sold  the  whole — 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE  121 

3000  yards  of  calico  and  700  lb.  of  beads,  with  which 
men  were  to  have  been  hired  for  the  journey  to  the 
coast.  Shereef  came,  without  shame,  to  salute  Living- 
stone ;  he  said  he  had  divined  on  the  Koran,  and  found 
that  the  owner  of  the  goods  was  dead  and  would  not 
need  them,  Livingstone  was  not  dead,  but  he  was 
a  beggar  in  a  strange  land,  very  far  from  home. 

The  most  astounding  reversal  of  fortune  was  await- 
ing him.  Five  days  later  a  noise  of  guns  and  shouting 
was  heard  outside  Ujiji ;  the  crowd  rushed  out,  with 
all  the  Arab  dignitaries  among  them  ;  a  servant  came 
running  back  to  tell  Livingstone  that  '  an  Englishman 
was  coming.'  Livingstone  walked  out  from  his  house, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  in  the  sight  of  all  Ujiji  he  was 
standing  under  the  American  flag  shaking  hands  with 
Henry  Morton  Stanley,  of  whom  he  had  never  heard 
in  his  life. 


IV.  HENRY  STANLEY 

1.  The  Meaning  of  a  Name 

Who  was  Henry  Morton  Stanley,  this  young  journalist 
who  had  come  suddenly  from  nowhere  in  the  nick  of 
time,  thundering  into  Ujiji  with  his  American  flag, 
his  Winchester  rifles,  and  his  invaluable  stores  ?  What 
the  man  was  could  be  easily  seen  :  '  Short  of  stature, 
lean  and  wiry,  with  a  brown  face,  a  strong  chin,  a  square 
Napoleonic  head,  and  noticeable  eyes — round  lion-like 
eyes,  watchful  and  kindly,  that  yet  glowed  with  a 
hidden  fire — he  was  a  strong  and  attractive  personality.' 
But  Livingstone,  as  he  sat  and  talked  with  him  in  the 
verandah  that  afternoon  must  have  been  wondering 
not  only  how  he  came  to  be  there — that,  no  doubt,  was 
soon  told — but  who  he  was,  and  by  what  course  of  life 
he  had  been  trained  for  his  astonishing  achievement. 
Probably  the  questions  remained  unasked  or  unanswered, 
for  the  two  travellers  had  the  whole  history  of  Europe, 
Asia,  Africa,  and  America  for  the  last  four  years  to  talk 
about ;  and  it  was  not  till  many  years  afterwards, 
when  both  the  great  explorers  were  dead,  that  Stanley's 
Autobiography  was  given  to  the  public  by  his  wife, 
Dorothy  Lady  Stanley. 

There  are  many  lives  of  men  of  British  birth  which 
show  how  a  boy  may  grow  from  very  humble  or  dis- 
advantageous beginnings   to  success,   fame,   and  even 

122 


HENRY;  STANLEY  123 

to  greatness.  But  the  career  of  Henry  Stanley  stands 
out  among  them  all  for  sheer  romance,  as  well  as  for 
the  development  of  an  admirable  character.  To  make 
good  this  statement  it  is  only  necessary  to  give  a  bare 
outline  of  the  facts,  as  recorded  in  one  of  the  most 
interesting  books  ever  written  in  English. 

Henry  Stanley's  name  is  a  fitting  symbol  of  his 
career  :  he  gained  it  partly  by  good  fortune,  partly  by 
the  attractiveness  of  his  personality,  but  by  natural 
inheritance  it  was  in  no  way  his.  He  was  born  in  1841, 
and  named  John  after  his  father  John  Rowlands,  the 
son  of  an  elder  John  Rowlands,  a  Welsh  farmer  in  the 
Vale  of  Clwyd.  His  mother,  Elizabeth,  was  the  youngest 
daughter  of  Moses  Parry,  another  prosperous  farmer 
at  Plas  Bigot  in  the  same  valley  ;  but  both  families  had 
losses  and  came  down  in  the  world.  Young  John's 
father  died  when  the  boy  was  only  a  few  weeks  old, 
and  he  was  brought  up  until  he  was  fifteen  years  old 
in  the  St.  Asaph  Union  Workhouse,  under  a  terrific 
master  named  Francis,  who  flogged  him  till  he  was 
old  enough  and  strong  enough  to  run  away.  After 
some  very  entertaining  months  with  his  Aunt  Mary, 
his  Aunt  Maria  and  his  Uncle  Tom — all  people  eminently 
worth  knowing — John  decided  to  go  to  sea,  and  sailed 
for  New  Orleans  at  three  days'  notice  as  cabin  boy  in 
the  packet  ship  Windermere,  under  a  rascally  American 
skipper  with  two  fiendish  mates.  All  the  way  across  he 
and  the  other  boys  were  bullied  and  thrashed,  with 
the  deliberate  object  of  making  them  run  away  when 
the  ship  reached  America,  and  so  forfeit  their  pay. 
John  was  duly  informed  of  this  trick  by  his  companions, 
but  he  preferred  his  liberty  to  his  money,  and  when 
the  Windermere  lay  off  the  levee  at  New  Orleans  he 


124  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAH. 

slipped  overboard  in  the  dark  and  hid  himself  in  the 
shadow  of  a  pile  of  cotton  bales. 

At  daybreak  he  dusted  himself  and  stole  off  into 
the  town,  looking  for  any  chance  of  work.  In  Tchapi- 
toulas  Street  he  found  one  of  the  greatest  chances  that 
fortune  ever  offered  to  a  boy.  In  front  of  No.  3  Store 
he  saw  a  gentleman  of  middle  age  in  a  tall  hat  and  dark 
alpaca  suit,  tilting  his  chair  back  against  the  frame 
of  the  door  and  leisurely  reading  a  newspaper.  John 
liked  his  face,  and  spoke  to  him.  *  Do  you  want  a 
boy,  sir  ?  ' 

'  A  boy,'  replied  the  gentleman  slowly.  '  No,  I 
do  not  think  I  want  one.  What  should  I  want  a  boy 
for  ?  Where  do  you  hail  from  ?  You  are  not  an 
American.' 

John  told  his  story.  '  So^ — you  are  friendless  in  a 
strange  land,  eh  ? — and  want  work,  to  begin  making 
your  fortune,  eh  ?  Well,  what  work  can  you  do  ? 
Can  you  read  ?     What  book  is  that  in  your  pocket  ?  ' 

And  so  the  conversation  went  on  :  it  was  exactly 
characteristic  of  both  of  them,  and  they  took  to  each 
other  on  the  spot.  The  gentleman  in  alpaca  was  not 
the  owner  of  the  store,  but  a  broker  who  dealt  between 
New  Orleans  and  the  up-river  planters,  and  had  a  desk 
in  the  store  ;  so  that  he  had  no  difficulty  in  procuring 
a  place  there  for  John  at  once.  His  name  was  Henry 
Morton  Stanley — a  well-to-do  man  with  a  good  wife, 
but  lacking  one  great  thing  in  life,  a  son  to  bear  his 
name  after  him. 

Of  this  however  he  was  probably  not  at  the  moment 
conscious,  and  John,  of  course,  knew  nothing  about  it. 
He  only  realised  that  he  was  a  free  man  from  this  time 
onwards  with  a  chance  in  the  world.     He  \vrote  after- 


HENRY  STANLEY 


125 


wards,  '  There  have  been  several  memorable  occasions 
in  my  life ;  but  among  them,  this  first  initial  stage 
towards  dignity  and  independence  must  ever  be 
prominent.  ...  I  soon  became  sensible  of  a  kindling 


*  "  A  boy,"  replied  the  gentleman  slowly.     "  No,  I 
don't  think  I  want  one."  ' 


elation  of  spirit,  for  the  speech  of  all  to  me  was  as 
though  everyone  recognised  that  I  had  entered  into 
the  great  human  fraternity.'  In  a  word,  he  was  kindly 
treated  and  appreciated  his  '  American  rights,'  as 
he  calls  them ;  the  right  of  free  opinions,  free  speech, 
freedom  from  insult,  oppression,  and  the  contempt  of 


126  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

class  :  the  right  to  be  estimated  solely  by  his  individual 
character,  without  regard  to  his  age,  his  wealth  or 
poverty,  his  humble  or  illustrious  origin.  In  most  of 
these  matters  the  old  country  is  not  so  different  from 
America  as  he  then  imagined  :  a  boy  like  him  would 
have  made  his  way  at  home,  inevitably.  But  he  had 
just  escaped  from  exceptionally  hard  circumstances,  and 
he  felt,  as  he  says,  '  a  proud  glad  holiday  spirit.' 

He  was  now  a  '  junior  clerk  '  with  a  salary,  and  he 
spent  money  on  books — a  remarkable  selection.  First, 
Gibbon's  '  Decline  and  Fall  '  in  four  volumes,  because 
it  had  associations  with  his  old  school  days.  Then 
Spenser's  '  Faerie  Queene,'  Tasso's  '  Jerusalem  Delivered,' 
Pope's  '  Iliad,'  and  Dryden's  '  Odyssey  ' ;  '  Paradise 
Lost,'  '  Plutarch's  Lives,'  '  Simplicius  on  Epictetus,' 
and  a  big  '  History  of  the  United  States,'  in  order  to 
know  the  past  of  his  new  country.  For  the  right  boy, 
these  are  the  right  books  ;  and  when  he  had  them  in 
the  book-case  he  made  for  himself,  he  says,  '  I  do 
believe  my  senses  contained  as  much  delight  as  they 
were  able  to  endure  without  making  me  extravagant 
in  behaviour.' 

He  was,  in  fact,  thoroughly  alive,  and  besides  enjoy- 
ing himself  gave  complete  satisfaction  to  his  employers. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stanley  were  good  friends  to  him ;  he 
spent  every  Sunday  with  them,  and  Mr.  Stanley  not 
only  recommended  fresh  books  to  him  but  sent  him 
an  instalment  of  a  dozen,  including  the  works  of 
Shakespeare,  Ben  Jonson,  Goldsmith,  Cowper,  Byron, 
and  Washington  Irving.  With  these,  and  Mr.  Stanley's 
conversation,  and  his  daily  work,  John  was  getting  a 
first-rate  education. 

When    he    was    eighteen    his    fortune    changed,    or 


HENRY  STANLEY  127 

seemed  to  change.  In  her  husband's  absence,  Mrs. 
Stanley  fell  seriously  ill.  John  could  not  leave  her 
house,  for  he  was  useful  there  as  night  watch.  He 
asked  his  employers  for  a  few  days'  leave  ;  they  were 
annoyed  and  told  him  he  might  stay  away  for  good. 
Mrs.  Stanley  died  three  days  later,  and  her  brother-in- 
law,  Captain  Stanley,  who  took  charge  of  everything, 
frankly  told  John  that  he  was  no  longer  needed.  John, 
utterly  forlorn,  went  to  sea  again. 

This  time  his  captain  was  a  kind  old  man,  who 
advised  him  not  to  be  downhearted  :  '  If  you  will 
have  patience,  and  continue  in  well-doing,  your  future 
will  be  better  than  you  dream  of.'  He  sent  him  off, 
with  a  small  sum  of  money,  to  look  for  INIr.  Stanley  at 
St.  Louis.  John  found  on  inquiry  that  his  friend  had 
now  gone  back  to  New  Orleans ;  he  worked  his  passage 
there  on  a  lumber  boat,  pulling  a  huge  oar,  peeling 
potatoes,  and  scouring  plates  for  the  crew — anything 
to  get  there.     At  the  end  of  a  month  he  got  there. 

The  result  was  decisive  ;  he  found  Mr.  Stanley  at 
once.  '  His  reception  of  me,'  he  says,  '  was  so  paternal 
that  the  prodigal  son  could  not  have  been  more  delighted.' 
Then,  as  they  talked,  John  heard  words  that  he  could 
hardly  realise  ;  a  peculiar  sensation  came  over  him 
and  held  him  '  spell-bound  and  thrilled  to  the  soul.' 
Mr.  Stanley  had  heard  on  his  return  all  about  John's 
dismissal  and  the  cause  of  it.  '  He  was  now  saying* 
with  some  emotion,  that  my  future  should  be  his 
charge.'  So  John  Rowlands  became  by  a  sudden  turn 
of  the  wheel  the  adopted  son  and  namesake  of  Henry 
Morton  Stanley,  of  whom  he  always  afterwards  spoke 
and  wrote  as  '  my  father.' 

For  some  time  his  education  proceeded  in  the  old 


128  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

way,  and  more  happily  than  ever.  Then  in  1860  a 
Southern  planter  offered  young  Henry  an  opening  for 
a  store  in  Saline  County,  Arkansas.  In  that  most 
unhealthy  valley  he  had  spent  a  few  miserable  months, 
when  the  Civil  War  broke  out,  and  the  whole  country 
of  the  South  was  thrown  into  the  utmost  confusion. 
In  the  midst  of  this,  Mr.  Stanley  died  suddenly,  and 
young  Henry  was  so  cut  off  by  the  blockade  of  New 
Orleans  that  he  only  received  the  news  long  afterwards. 
The  war  fever  mounted  high  meanwhile,  and  Henry 
was  persuaded  without  much  difficulty  to  enlist  on 
the  side  of  the  Southerners,  among  whom  he  had  been 
living  since  he  became  an  American.  He  joined  the 
6th  Arkansas  Regiment,  called  the  Dixie  Greys,  and 
soon  became  known  among  his  comrades  in  E  Company, 
who  all  loved  him,  as  '  the  Boyish  Soldier  '  or  '  the 
Great  Boy.' 

But  he  did  not  like  war  :  he  speaks  of  his  enlistment 
as  the  first  of  many  blunders,  which  precipitated  him 
into  a  furnace,  hardening  but  painful  to  the  moral  sense. 
Still,  being  the  man  he  was,  he  endured  and  fought  as 
well  as  anyone,  and  his  experiences  make  a  vivid  story  ; 
but  it  was  not  an  unlucky  day  for  him  when  at  Shiloh, 
the  greatest  battle  of  the  war,  he  was  taken  prisoner 
and  sent  North  to  be  interned  at  Camp  Douglas.  After 
two  months  there  in  the  most  appalling  sanitary 
conditions  he  was  nearly  mad  from  illness  and  despair  : 
just  in  time  he  was  induced  to  enroll  in  the  U.S.  Artillery, 
but  within  three  days  went  down  with  dysentery  and 
low  fever.  A  fortnight  later  he  was  discharged  from 
the  service,  a  wreck. 

This  was  in  June  1862.  In  November  he  arrived 
in  Liverpool,  poor,  shabbily  dressed,  and  in  bad  health. 


HENRY  STANLEY  129 

*  I  made  my  way,'  he  writes, '  to  Denbigh,  to  my  mother's 
house.  With  what  pride  I  knocked  at  the  door,  buoyed 
up  by  a  hope  of  being  able  to  show  what  manliness 
I  had  acquired,  not  unwilling,  perhaps,  to  magnify  what 
I  meant  to  become.  ...  I  was  told  that  I  was  a  dissrace 
to  them  in  the  eyes  of  their  neighbours,  and  they 
desired  me  to  leave  as  speedily  as  possible.' 

2.  The  Adventures  of  a  Journalist 

This  unhappy  experience  made  a  lasting  impression 
on  Stanley  :  he  had  a  deep  tenderness  in  his  nature 
which  could  not  change,  but  he  seems  to  have  felt  half 
consciously  that  it  must  in  future  be  guarded  from 
such  shocks,  and  the  way  to  guard  it  was  by  a  habitual 
reserve,  an  almost  stern  self-command.  He  returned  to 
America,  and  as  an  outlet  for  his  energies  chose  a 
sea-life  once  more.  Through  1863  and  the  early  part 
of  1864  he  was  in  the  merchant  service,  sailing  to  the 
West  Indies,  Spain,  and  Italy  ;  then  he  served  for  a 
few  months  in  the  U.S.  Navy.  In  1865  he  came  ashore 
and  travelled  about  America,  from  Missouri  across 
the  Plains,  to  Salt  Lake  City,  Denver,  Black  Hawk, 
Omaha  and  Boston,  doing  newspaper  work,  and  leaning 
more  and  more  towards  journalism  as  a  profession. 
In  July  1866  he  sailed  from  Boston  for  Smyrna  as  a 
newspaper  correspondent,  in  company  with  his  friend 
W.  H.  Cook.  They  ventured  into  the  wilder  districts 
of  Turkey,  where  they  were  robbed  and  beaten,  arrested 
as  malefactors,  and  only  just  saved  from  death. 

On  his  return  from  this  spirited  but  unfortunate 
venture,  Stanley  made  his  '  first  entry  into  journalistic 
life  as  a  "  selected  special  "  '  at  St.  Louis.  In  1867  he 
went  on   campaign   in   the  bloodless   Indian  War  ;    in 


130  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

1868  he  was  sent  by  the  New  York  Herald — a  very 
enterprising  paper — to  accompany  the  march  of  the 
British  Army  into  Abyssinia,  and  he  succeeded  in 
getting  a  despatch  through  to  London  with  the  earliest 
news  of  the  overthrow  of  King  Theodore  at  Magdala. 
He  then  visited  the  Suez  Canal,  which  was  approaching 
completion,  and  Crete,  where  he  very  nearly  married 
a  Greek  girl ;  then  to  Athens,  Rhodes,  Beyrout  and 
Alexandria,  and  so  to  Spain,  where  he  received  a 
summons  from  the  Herald's  agent  to  come  at  once  to 
London. 

The  most  enterprising  newspaper  in  the  w^orld  had 
had  a  new  idea.  It  was  rumoured  that  Dr.  Livingstone 
was  on  his  way  home  from  Central  Africa,  where  for 
years  he  had  been  almost  beyond  touch  with  Europe. 
The  new  idea  was  that  by  going  to  Aden,  or  perhaps 
to  Zanzibar,  Stanley  might  meet  him  and  do  a  '  scoop  ' 
by  getting  the  first  account  of  his  adventures.  Stanley 
was,  as  usual,  ready  to  go  anywhere  at  a  word  :  by 
November  21  he  Avas  at  Aden.  But  the  rumours 
turned  out  to  be  entirely  without  foundation  :  as  we 
have  already  seen,  Livingstone  was  at  this  time  literally 
years  away.  In  March  1869  Stanley  came  back  to 
London.  He  was  sent  immediately  to  report  the 
Revolutionary  War  in  Spain  ;  but  after  six  months 
crowded  with  exciting  scenes  and  journalistic  feats 
he  was  once  more  recalled,  this  time  to  Paris,  to  meet 
Mr.  James  G.  Bennett,  the  proprietor  of  the  Herald. 

This  extraordinary  man  had  planned  for  Stanley 
an  extraordinary  programme.  He  had  realised  that 
here  was  a  traveller  of  inexhaustible  energy,  a  corre- 
spondent of  great  journalistic  ability,  and  a  man  of 
original  character  ;  he  determined  to  give  these  qualities 


HENRY  STANLEY  131 

the  widest  field  and  the  most  abundant  resources. 
Stanley  was  to  report  on  the  opening  of  the  Suez  Canal, 
on  Baker's  Expedition  to  Upper  Egypt,  the  under- 
ground explorations  in  Jerusalem,  Turkish  politics, 
archaeological  digging  in  the  Crimea,  the  political 
situation  of  the  Caucasus,  and  the  affairs  of  Trans- 
Caspia,  Persia,  and  India  ;  finally,  as  a  climax  to  all 
this,  he  was  to  return  to  Africa,  not  merely  to  meet 
Livingstone,  as  he  had  hoped  to  do  before,  but  to 
search  for  him,  find  him,  and  rescue  him. 

This  amazing  list  of  agenda  was  actually  carried 
out.  In  less  than  a  year  Stanley  had  marked  off  in 
turn  every  item  but  the  last,  and  by  August  1870  he 
was  leaving  Bombay  :  on  December  31,  he  reached 
Zanzibar,  fifteen  months  after  receiving  his  first  com- 
mission for  this  journey.  The  outlook,  however,  was 
not  encouraging  :  during  those  fifteen  months  not  a 
word  of  news  about  Livingstone  had  reached  Zanzibar  ; 
no  letters  or  instructions  from  the  Herald  were  waiting 
there ;  no  money  for  expenses.  About  80  dollars  was 
all  that  Stanley  had  to  provide  him  with  an  army 
and  its  transport. 

But  the  American  Consul  supplied  a  sum  sufficient 
for  the  present,  and  the  expedition  was  immediately 
formed.  When  ready,  on  March  21,  1871,  it  consisted 
of  three  white  men,  31  armed  Zanzibaris  as  escort, 
153  porters  and  27  pack  animals  for  transport,  with 
two  riding-horses  :  carrying,  of  course,  many  bales  of 
cloth,  beads,  wire,  provisions  and  medical  stores,  and 
also,  as  Stanley  himself  specially  remarks,  a  great  many 
newspapers  and  a  Bible.  The  point  of  this  is,  that  during 
the  frequent  fevers  with  which  his  journey  began,  he  spent 
time  constantly  on  both  these  kinds  of  reading,  and  his 


132     THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

views  about  them  were  entirely  recast.  '  It  appeared  to 
me  that  the  reading  of  anything  in  the  newspapers,  ex- 
cept that  for  which  they  were  intended,  namely  news,  was 
a  waste  of  time,  and  deteriorative  of  native  force,  and 
worth,  and  personality.  The  Bible,  however,  with  its 
noble  and  simple  language  I  continued  to  read  with  a 
higher  and  truer  understanding  than  I  had  ever  before 
conceived.  .  .  .  The  one  reminded  me  that  apart  from 
God,  my  life  was  but  a  bubble  of  air,  and  it  bade  me 
remember  my  Creator  :  the  other  fostered  arrogance 
and  worldliness.'  He  admits  that  some  of  the  news- 
papers he  read  were  uncommonly  poor  specimens  of 
journalism  ;  but  he  is  clear  that  from  this  time  news- 
paper opinion  lost  for  ever  the  power  which  it  once  had, 
of  governing,  and  perhaps  perverting,  his  own  views. 

Early  in  May  the  expedition  began  to  ascend  the 
Usagara  range,  and  in  eight  marches  reached  Ugogo,  '  in- 
habited by  a  bumptious,  full-chested,  square- shouldered 
people,  who  exact  heavy  tribute  from  all  caravans.' 
Nine  marches  more  took  Stanley  through  their  territory, 
and  into  Unyamwezi,  or  the  Land  of  the  Moon,  the 
home  of  a  turbulent  and  combative  race.  Here,  at 
Unyanyembe,  there  was  a  colony  of  Arab  traders  :  they 
were  always  scouring  the  country  for  ivory,  but  they 
had  no  information  about  Livingstone.  He  was  of 
course  known  to  have  been  some  time  before  at  Ujiji,  on 
Lake  Tanganyika  ;  but  he  might  now  be  in  Manyuema, 
or  on  the  Congo,  making  for  the  West  Coast,  or  forcing 
his  Way  north  in  search  of  the  Nile.  It  was  Stanley's 
intention  to  go  straight  for  Ujiji,  after  a  rest  of  some 
ten  days  at  Unyanyembe,  where  he  arrived  on  June  23. 

But  here  occurred  an  interruption  which  might 
have  been    disastrous.     On    July    6,    news   came   that 


HENRY  STANLEY  133 

Mirambo,  a  chief  of  Unyamwezi,  had  blackmailed  and 
turned  back  a  caravan  bound  for  Ujiji,  declaring  that 
no  Arab  caravan  should  pass  through  his  country  while 
he  was  alive.  His  real  reason  was  that  he  had  a  long 
grudge  against  Mkasiwa,  King  of  Unyanyembe,  with 
whom  the  Arabs  lived  on  extremely  friendly  terms  : 
and  being  himself  a  scoundrel  he  had  proposed  to  the 
Arabs  that  they  should  make  an  alliance  with  him  and 
betray  Mkasiwa.  The  Arabs  replied  that  they  could 
not  possibly  abandon  a  friend  who  lived  at  peace  with 
them.  Mirambo  then  sent  them  this  message,  worthy 
of  a  European  war-lord  :  '  For  many  years  I  have 
fought  against  the  Washeuse  (the  natives),  but  this 
year  is  a  great  year  with  me.  I  intend  to  fight  all  the 
Arabs,  as  well  as  Mkasiwa,  King  of  Unyanyembe.' 

War  was  declared  accordingly  on  July  15,  and  this 
put  Stanley  in  a  very  awkward  position.  Mirambo 
occupied  the  country  which  lay  between  where  the  expe- 
dition now  was  and  where  it  was  hoping  to  find  Living- 
stone. It  could  not  go  forward  until  one  side  or  the 
other  was  defeated  and  peace  was  made.  Stanley  might 
sit  down  and  wait,  or  he  might  join  in  the  war  and 
help  to  end  it  earlier.  Mirambo  was  a  militarist  and 
an  autocrat  :  if  he  were  successful  he  would  probably 
make  it  impossible  for  anyone  to  return  from  Ujiji  to 
Unyanyembe.  On  the  other  hand  all  would  be  easy 
for  the  expedition  if  the  Arabs  won  :  they  had  plenty 
of  guns,  and  Stanley  thought  he  could  give  them  material 
assistance.  He  therefore  decided  to  make  war  on 
Mirambo, 

On  July  20  a  force  of  2,000  men — the  soldiers 
and  slaves  of  the  Arabs — marched  from  Unyanyembe 
to  fight  Mirambo.     With  them  went  also  the  soldiers 


134    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

of  the  Herald  Expedition,  to  the  number  of  forty, 
with  Stanley  at  their  head,  and  the  American  flag 
flying  over  them.  The  show  was  a  very  imposing 
one  :  all  the  slaves  and  soldiers  were  decorated  with 
crowns  of  feathers,  and  had  long  crimson  cloaks  flowing 
from  their  shoulders  and  trailing  on  the  ground.  They 
were  armed,  some  with  percussion  guns,  some  with 
matchlocks,  profusely  decorated  with  silver  bands, 
and  they  made  a  tremendous  amount  of  noise  as 
they  advanced  across  the  plains,  with  an  extravagant 
exhibition  of  sham  fighting. 

On  the  second  day  they  reached  Mfuto  and  feasted 
freely  on  meat  slaughtered  for  the  braves.  Stanley 
went  down  with  fever  ;  but  he  had  himself  carried  in 
his  hammock  when  the  march  went  on  again.  On  the 
fourth  day  the  enemy's  country  was  reached  and  the 
village  of  Zimbizo  was  captured.  On  the  fifth  day  a 
detachment  went  out  to  reconnoitre,  caught  a  spy, 
and  beheaded  him  on  the  spot.  This  success  elated 
the  Arabs  and  brought  them  to  grief.  Some  five 
hundred  of  them,  under  Saoud,  son  of  Said-bin-Majid, 
volunteered  to  go  on  and  capture  Wilyankurn,  where 
Mirambo  was  just  then  with  several  of  his  principal 
chiefs.  Stanley  suggested  that  they  should  line  out 
and  fire  the  long  grass  before  they  advanced,  so  as 
to  rout  out  the  enemy's  skirmishers  and  spies,  and  have 
a  clear  field  of  action.  But  '  an  Arab  will  never  take 
advice':  they  arrived  before  Wilyankurn  without 
taking  any  precautions,  fired  a  few  volleys  into  the 
village,  and  then  charged. 

Mirambo  was  a  savage,  but  he  was  much  cleverer 
than  these  men  of  the  old  and  famous  Arab  race.  When 
his  enemies  rushed  the  gate  of  the  village,  he  slipped 


^^a.^\ciily!cotL, 


'  Fired  a  few  volleys  into  the  village,  and  then  charged.' 


136  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

out  of  another  gate,  with  his  400  fighting  men,  took 
them  round  the  outside  of  the  village  and  placed  them 
in  ambush  close  to  the  road  by  which  the  attack  had 
been  made.  When  the  Arabs  returned  they  were  to 
rise  at  a  signal  from  him,  and  each  to  stab  his  man. 

The  Arabs  meanwhile  took  the  place  without 
opposition.  They  might  have  been  put  on  their  guard 
by  the  total  absence  of  Mirambo  and  his  troops,  but 
they  were  too  much  occupied  with  the  ivory  and  slaves 
which  they  found  in  plenty  abandoned  to  their  valour. 
They  loaded  themselves  with  booty  and  moved  out  to 
return  by  the  way  they  came.  Their  march  did  not 
last  long  :  Mirambo  gave  his  signal,  his  forest  thieves 
rose  instantly,  speared  each  his  man,  and  decapitated 
him  too.  Not  an  Arab  survived,  but  some  of  the 
slaves  escaped  and  ran  with  the  news  to  Zimbizo. 

The  loss  was  serious,  but  the  panic  was  out  of  all 
proportion.  At  first  Stanley  and  the  soldier  Khamis- 
bin-Abdullah  stopped  the  cry  for  a  retreat,  but  next 
morning,  as  Stanley  lay  shivering  with  fever,  the 
Governor,  Said-bin-Salim,  came  in  and  told  him  that 
the  Arabs  were  off  for  Unyanyembe.  Stanley  pointed 
out  that  Mirambo  would  certainly  follow,  and  then 
they  would  have  to  fight  at  their  own  doors.  But 
even  as  the  Governor  left  him,  he  heard  a  great  noise 
and  confusion  :  he  looked  out  and  saw  the  whole  force 
running  away,  with  the  Governor  himself  mounting 
his  donkey  to  get  ahead  of  them.  In  the  go-as-you- 
please  race  for  Mfuto,  Said-bin-Salim  came  in  first, 
doing  the  nine  hours'  march  in  four  hours,  which,  as 
Stanley  says,  '  shows  how  fast  a  man  can  travel  when 
...  in  a  hurry.' 

Fever  or  no  fever,  Stanley  had  to   bestir  himself. 


HENRY  STANLEY  137 

He  got  up  and  looked  about  him  :    his  men  had  all  lost 
their  heads,  and  even  Khamis-bin-Abdullah  was  about 
to  bolt.     Stanley  collected  a  small   band — Shaw,   the 
sick  Englishman,  Selim,  the  brave  Arab  boy,  Bombay, 
the  native  servant  who  had  travelled  with  Burton  and 
Speke,   Mabruki,   another  man  of  Burton's,   Sarmeen, 
and  Uredi  Manna  Sera.     These    seven  reached  Mfuto 
at  midnight,  and  next  day  an  attempt  was  made  to 
rally  the   Arabs,   but   they   had  become   demoralised, 
and  left  even  their  tents  and  ammunition  to  the  enemy. 
Ten  days  afterwards  Mirambo,  as  Stanley  had  predicted, 
was  camping  within  view  of  the  Arab  capital,  Tabora, 
with  1,000  guns  and  15,000  allies  of  the  Watuta  tribe. 
A   second   disaster   quickly   followed.     Khamis-bin- 
Abdullah,  the  bravest  of  all  the  Arabs,  went  out  to 
attack   Mirambo   with    eighty    armed    slaves    and   five 
Arabs,  one  of  whom  was  his  own  young  son  Khamis. 
It  was  a  forlorn  hope,  and  the  slaves  knew  it.     As  soon 
as  they  saw  the  enemy  they  ran  for  their  lives  :  Mirambo's 
men  surrounded  the  half-dozen  Arabs  and  poured  their 
whole  available  fire  into  them.     Their  medicine  men 
then  hurried  up  and  extracted  a  powerful  concoction 
from  the  bodies  of  the  slain,   which  was  drunk  that 
night   with    great     ceremony,    '  dances,    drum-beating, 
and  general  fervour  of  heart.' 

The  Arabs,  panic-stricken  again,  now  began  pouring 
out  of  Tabora  into  Stanley's  headquarters  in  the 
neighbouring  valley  of  Kwihara.  An  attack  seemed 
probable,  so  the  place  was  at  once  loopholed  for  defence, 
trenches  and  rifle  pits  were  dug,  pots  filled  with  water, 
provisions  collected,  watchmen  posted,  ammunition 
boxes  unscrewed,  and  the  American  flag  hoisted  on  a 
high   bamboo   over   the   roof.     Stanley's   spirits   rose : 


138    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

if  Mirambo  would  only  attack  the  war  might  be  over 
in  a  few  hours.  All  night  the  garrison  stood  to  arms, 
but  they  saw  only  the  flames  which  were  consuming  the 
suburbs  of  Tabora.  When  morning  came  Mirambo 
departed  with  the  cattle  and  ivory  he  had  captured. 
The  road  to  Ujiji  was  more  completely  closed  than  ever. 

3.  The  Finding  of  Livingstone 

Stanley  was  now  in  what  might  well  have  seemed 
to  him  a  desperate  position  :  he  had  lost  five  of  his 
little  force,  his  allies  were  totally  defeated,  his  enemy 
lay  across  his  path  in  overwhelming  strength  :  he  and 
his  only  white  companions  were  ill.  But  these  con- 
siderations weighed  literally  nothing  with  him — they 
were  not  considerations  at  all,  so  long  as  Livingstone 
was  still  to  be  found.  He  set  to  work  at  once  to  re- 
organise his  expedition.  It  took  him  three  months, 
and  in  spite  of  the  death  of  one  of  his  white  men  and 
several  natives,  the  desertion  of  forty  carriers  and  the 
loss  by  disease  of  all  his  transport  animals  but  two, 
he  found  himself  in  September  at  the  head  of  nearly 
sixty  picked  men,  almost  all  well  armed,  and  well 
supplied  with  all  stores. 

The  conclusion  at  which  he  had  arrived  was  that 
if  he  could  not  go  through  Mirambo's  country  he  might 
march  round,  it.  '  A  flank  march  might  be  made, 
sufficiently  distant  from  the  disturbed  territory  and 
sufficiently  long  to  enable  me  to  strike  west  and  make 
another  attempt  to  reach  the  Arab  colony  on  Lake 
Tanganyika.'  This  was  not  so  easy  as  it  looks  on 
paper  :  it  meant  from  200  to  300  miles  extra  marching, 
and  for  the  first  part  of  the  route  he  would  be  exposed 
to  a  flank  attack  by  Mirambo  if  the  mighty  war-lord 


HENRY  STANLEY  139 

chose  to  pursue  his  advantage  m  that  way.  The 
road  may  be  traced  on  the  map  by  drawing  first  a  line 
150  miles  long  from  Unyanyembe,  going  south  by  west, 
then  150  miles  W.N.W.,  then  90  miles  north  half-east, 
then  70  miles  west  by  north  ;  and  it  must  be  remembered 
that  a  day's  march  would  only  average  between  ten  and 
twelve  miles  a  day. 

The  expedition  left  Unyanyembe  on  September  23, 
and  for  twenty-two  days  travelled  south-west,  covering 
about  240  miles.  Troubles  began  at  once  :  carriers 
bolted  and  had  to  be  brought  back  and  flogged  ;  Shaw, 
the  Englishman,  broke  down  finally  and  had  to  be  sent 
home  ;  a  mutiny  was  only  put  down  by  the  strong  hand, 
and  food  at  times  was  uncomfortably  scarce.  But 
Mirambo  was  safely  circumvented ;  at  Mpokwa,  which 
is  ten  days'  march  from  his  capital,  Stanley  felt  that  he 
could  venture  to  turn  westward,  and  thirty-five  miles 
farther  on  he  prolonged  his  turn  to  a  more  northerly 
line.  At  the  105th  mile  of  this  northerly  journey  he 
came  to  the  ferry  over  the  Malagarazi  river,  and  knew 
that  he  was  comfortably  on  the  far  side  of  Mirambo,  who 
by  this  time  lay  eight  days'  march  to  the  east.  He 
could  now  march  direct  for  the  lake,  leaving  his  enemy 
further  behind  at  every  mile. 

At  the  Malagarazi  he  met  a  native  caravan  and 
heard  news  which  startled  the  whole  expedition  into 
excitement.  The  caravan  men,  who  were  natives 
of  West  Tanganyika,  stated  that  a  white  man  had 
reached  Ujiji  from  Manyuema,  a  few  hundred  miles 
west  of  the  lake.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  intense 
anxiety  with  which  Stanley  tried  to  test  their  story. 
Very  few  of  his  men  could  speak  the  language  of  the 
informants,  and  both  questions  and  answers  had  to  be 


140  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

brief  and  blunt :  but  the  evidence  was  clear  and  posi- 
tive that  the  stranger  was  elderly,  grey-bearded,  white, 
wearing  clothes  somewhat  like  Stanley's  own  ;  that 
he  had  been  at  Ujiji  before,  but  had  been  absent  for 
years  in  the  western  country  and  had  only  returned 
the  day  the  caravan  left,  or  the  day  before. 

Of  course  he  might  be  Livingstone  ;  but  could  he 
be  anyone  else  ?  Sir  Samuel  Baker  was  known  to  be 
in  Central  Africa  at  this  moment ;  but  he  was  not 
grey-bearded  when  last  seen.  A  traveller  might  have 
arrived  from  the  West  Coast — Englishmen  had  not 
been  doing  much  on  that  side,  and  this  might  be  a 
Portuguese,  a  German,  or  a  Frenchman — ^but  then  no 
one  of  these  nations  had  ever  been  heard  of  in  connection 
with  Ujiji.  Stanley  dismissed  his  doubts ;  his  reason 
and  his  instinct  told  him  that  this  was  Livingstone, 
and  that  all  he  had  to  do  was  to  press  forward. 

He  crossed  the  river,  and  entered  the  country  of  the 
factious  and  warlike  tribe,  the  Wahha.  Here  he  was 
immediately  summoned  to  halt,  and  to  pay  an  amount 
of  tribute  which  would  have  beggared  the  expedition. 
After  long  hours  of  haggling  he  got  off  with  a  smaller 
sum,  but  the  next  day  he  was  halted  again  and  made 
to  pay  two  more  bales  of  cloth,  with  the  assurance  that 
this  was  really  the  last  demand.  Nevertheless  the 
same  game  of  extortion  was  played  next  day  for  the 
third  time.  Stanley  would  tolerate  this  no  longer: 
he  had  two  more  marches  to  make  in  the  territory  of 
these  thieves  and  he  meant  to  make  them  without 
payment.  He  laid  in  four  days'  provisions,  woke  his 
people  at  midnight,  made  them  pack  and  steal  away 
in  twos  and  threes,  leaving  the  road  and  marching 
over  the  open  plain.     In  this  way  they  got  clear  away 


HENRY  STANLEY  141 

unperceived,  and  in  eighteen  hours  crossed  the  boundary 
from  Uhha  into  Ukaranga. 

It  was  now  235  days  since  Stanley  had  left  the 
Indian  Ocean,  and  fifty  since  he  had  started  from  Un}  an- 
yembe  :  only  six  hours'  march  lay  between  him  and 
his  goal.  The  expedition  set  out  next  morning  in  the 
cool  twilight  of  the  forest  dawn,  and  by  eight  o'clock  they 
were  climbing  a  steep  wooded  hill.  They  reached  the 
crest,  and  there  saw,  '  as  in  a  painted  picture,  a  vast 
lake  in  the  distance  below,  with  its  face  luminous  as  a 
mirror,  set  in  a  frame  of  dimly  blue  mountains.'  It  was 
Tanganyika  at  last,  and  the  thought  of  a  rest  from 
their  labours  filled  the  whole  company  with  boisterous 
good  humour.  The  caravan  plunged  gaily  down  the 
descent,  rolled  over  a  few  intervening  slopes  and  cane 
brakes,  and  about  noon  came  to  the  summit  of  the 
last  ridge.  The  lake  was  there  within  half  a  mile  of 
them. 

Stanley  describes  it  like  a  man  in  a  dream.  '  I  look 
enraptured,'  he  writes  in  his  Autobiography,  '  upon  the 
magnificent  expanse  of  water,  and  the  white- tipped 
billows  of  the  inland  sea.  I  see  the  sun  and  the  clear 
white  sky  reflected  a  million  million  times  upon  the 
dancing  waves.  I  hear  the  sounding  surge  on  the 
pebbled  shore ;  I  see  its  crispy  edge  curling  over  and 
creeping  up  the  land,  to  return  again  to  the  watery 
hollows  below.  I  see  canoes,  far  away  from  the  shore, 
lazily  rocking  on  the  undulating  face  of  the  lake.  Hard 
by  the  shore,  embowered  in  palms,  on  this  hot  noon  the 
village  of  Ujiji  broods  drowsily.  No  living  thing  can 
be  seen  moving  to  break  the  stilly  aspect  of  the  outer 
lines  of  the  town  and  its  deep  shades.' 

This  siesta  must  be  broken  :   in  accordance  with  the 


142     THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

ancient  custom  of  the  country  the  caravan's  guns  must 
give  notice  of  its  approach.  The  men  were  collected, 
dressed  in  clean  clothes  and  snowy  headgear,  and  with 
a  tremendous  noise  of  firing  they  marched  down  the 
hill. 

A  tumultuous  stir  became  visible  on  the  outer  edge 
of  the  town.  Groups  of  men  in  white,  with  arms  in 
hand,  burst  from  the  shades,  hesitated  a  moment, 
and  then  came  rushing  to  meet  the  travellers.  The 
foremost  cried,  '  Why,  we  took  you  for  Mirambo  and 
his  bandits — it  is  an  age  since  a  caravan  has  come  to 
Ujiji.  Which  way  did  you  come  ?  Ah  !  you  have  a 
white  man  with  you — is  this  his  caravan  ?  ' 

The  crowd  came  pressing  round  Stanley,  salaaming 
to  him  and  jostling  each  other.  He  was  about  to  ask 
whether  it  was  true  that  there  was  a  white  man  in 
Ujiji,  when  a  tall  black  man  in  a  white  shirt  burst 
through  the  crowd  and  said  with  a  bow,  '  Good  morning, 
sir,'  adding,  '  I  am  Susi,  sir,  the  servant  of  Dr.  Living- 
stone.' 

'  What !     Is  Dr.  Livingstone  here,  in  this  town  ?  ' 

'  Yes,  sir.' 

'  But  are  you  sure — sure  that  it  is  Dr.  Livingstone  ?  ' 

'  Why,  I  leave  him  just  now,  sir.  ' 

And  thereupon  Chuma,  another  well-known  servant 
of  Livingstone's,  also  appeared.  Stanley  suggested 
that  one  of  them  should  run  ahead  and  tell  the  Doctor 
of  his  coming.  Susi  was  instantly  seen  racing  headlong, 
with  his  white  dress  streaming  behind  him  '  like  a 
wind- whipped  pennant.' 

'  The  column,'  Stanley  writes,  '  continued  on  its 
way,  beset  on  either  flank  by  a  vehemently  enthusiastic 
and    noisily    rejoicing   mob,   which  bawled   a  jingling 


HENRY  STANLEY  143 

chorus  of  "  Yambos  "  to  every  mother's  son  of  us,  and 
maintained  an  inharmonious  orchestral  music  of  drums 
and  horns.  I  was  indebted  for  this  loud  ovation  to 
the  cheerful  relief  the  people  felt  that  we  were  not 
Mirambo's  bandits,  and  to  their  joy  at  the  happy 
rupture  of  the  long  silence  that  had  perforce  existed 
between  the  two  trading  colonies  of  Unyanyembe  and 
Ujiji,  and  because  we  brought  news  which  concerned 
every  householder  and  freeman  of  this  lake  port. 

'  After  a  few  minutes  we  came  to  a  halt.  The  guides 
in  the  van  had  reached  the  market-place,  which  was 
the  central  point  of  interest.  For  there  the  great  Arabs, 
chiefs  and  respectabilities  of  Ujiji,  had  gathered  in  a 
group  to  await  events  ;  thither  also  they  had  brought 
with  them  the  venerable  European  traveller  who  was 
at  that  time  resting  among  them.  The  caravan  pressed 
up  to  them,  divided  itself  into  two  lines  on  either  side 
of  the  road,  and  as  it  did  so,  disclosed  to  me  the  prominent 
figure  of  an  elderly  white  man  clad  in  a  red  flannel 
blouse,  grey  trousers,  and  a  blue  cloth,  gold-banded  cap. 

'  Up  to  this  moment  my  mind  had  verged  upon  non- 
belief  in  his  existence,  and  now  a  nagging  doubt  intruded 
itself  into  my  mind  that  this  white  man  could  not  be 
the  object  of  my  quest,  or,  f  he  were,  that  he  would 
somehow  contrive  to  disappear  before  my  eyes  could 
be  satisfied  with  a  view  of  him. 

'  Consequently,  though  the  expedition  was  organised 
for  this  supreme  moment,  and  every  movement  of  it  had 
been  confidently  ordered  with  a  view  of  discovering 
him,  yet  when  the  moment  of  discovery  came,  and  the 
man  himself  stood  revealed  before  me,  this  constantly 
recurring  doubt  contributed  not  a  little  to  make  me 
unprepared  for  it.     ''  It  may  not  be  Livingstone  after 


144    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

all,"  doubt  suggested.  "  If  this  is  he,  what  shall  I  say- 
to  him  ?  "  My  imagination  had  not  taken  this  question 
into  consideration  before.  All  around  me  was  the 
immense  crowd,  hushed  and  expectant,  and  wondering 
how  the  scene  would  develop  itself. 

'  Under  all  these  circumstances  I  could  do  no  more 
than  exercise  some  restraint  and  reserve,  so  I  walked 
up  to  him,  and  doffing  my  helmet,  bowed  and  said 
in  an  inquiring  tone — "  Dr.  Livingstone,  I  presume  ?  " 

'Smiling  cordially,  he  lifted  his  cap  and  answered 
"  Yes." 

*This  ending  all  scepticism  on  my  part,  my  face 
betrayed  the  earnestness  of  my  satisfaction  as  I  extended 
my  hand  and  added  :  ''  I  thank  God,  Doctor,  that  I 
have  been  permitted  to  see  you."  In  the  warm  grasp 
he  gave  my  hand  and  the  heartiness  of  his  voice,  I  felt 
that  he  also  was  sincere  and  earnest  as  he  replied, 
"  I  feel  most  thankful  that  I  am  here  to  welcome  you." 
Then,  remarking  that  the  sun  was  very  hot,  the  Doctor 
led  the  way  to  the  verandah  of  his  house,  which  was 
close  by  and  fronted  the  market-place.  The  vast  crowd 
moved  with  us.' 

4.  The  Breaker  of  Rocks. 

Of  all  the  gifts  which  fortune  lavished  upon  Stanley, 
none  was  more  remarkable  than  his  natural  tempera- 
ment— that  habitual  mood  of  sanguine  vital  energy  by 
which  he  was  always  conquering  the  world  and  creating 
his  own  character.  To  an  idle,  greedy,  or  worldly 
man  life  must  in  the  end  become  poorer  and  poorer  : 
to  a  man  like  Stanley  it  will  be  constantly  becoming 
richer  and  more  full  of  reality.  The  search  for  Living- 
stone was  a  striking  example  :   it  was  originally  under- 


HENRY  STANLEY  145 

taken  from  no  higher  motive  than  that  of  journalistic 
enterprise  and  the  love  of  adventure,  but  as  it  went  on 
the  journalist  was  transformed  to  an  explorer,  the 
young  adventurer  made  himself  into  a  great  man. 

Livingstone  was  the  gainer,  too,  by  this  :  his  rescuer 
brought  him  a  flood  of  news  from  the  outer  worlds 
reviving  emotions  that  had  long  lain  dormant  in  the 
wilds  of  Manyuema,  but  it  was  not  merely  of  the  news 
itself  that  he  was  speaking  when  he  kept  saying  to 
Stanley,  '  You  have  brought  me  new  life — you  have 
brought  me  new  life.'  He  gave  the  young  stranger 
not  only  gratitude,  but  his  complete  confidence  ;  told 
him  his  thoughts  and  hopes,  and  entrusted  to  him 
the  whole  of  his  MS.  Journals  for  the  last  years  1866 
to  1872,  to  be  taken  to  England  when  the  two  travellers 
parted  company. 

They  went  together  to  Unyanyembe  and  there  said 
good-bye.  Livingstone  was  determined  to  finish  his 
work  :  he  collected  fresh  stores  and  started  on  a  final 
journey  to  Bangweolo  and  Katanga.  It  was  his  final 
journey  in  another  sense.  After  a  year's  hard  travelling 
he  became  ill — too  ill  even  to  be  carried.  Susi  got 
him  to  Chitambo's  village,  in  Ilala,  and  laid  him  on  a 
rough  bed  in  a  hut.  At  four  in  the  morning  they  found 
him  with  his  candle  still  burning  ;  he  was  quite  dead, 
kneeling  by  his  bedside  with  his  head  buried  in  his  hands 
upon  the  pillow.  This  was  a  fitting  end  for  the  man 
who  may  be  called  the  greatest  of  all  our  travellers  : 
for  he  was  a  wanderer  all  his  life,  he  travelled  in  Africa 
alone  twenty-nine  thousand  miles,  he  added  to  the 
known  part  of  the  globe  a  million  square  miles,  and 
from  first  to  last  he  was  free  from  all  desire  of  personal 
advantage. 


146  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

It  is  high  praise  of  Stanley  to  say  that  he  became 
worthy  of  the  man  he  went  to  help.  The  two  men 
were  very  different  by  nature  :  Livingstone's  career 
was  all  of  one  piece,  the  result  of  a  single  constant 
motive ;  Stanley's  was  an  almost  incredible  succession 
of  changes,  but  they  were  all  changes  of  growth.  We 
have  seen  how  the  lonely  boy  became  the  adventurous 
and  self-reliant  youth  ;  his  wife  explains  very  con- 
vincingly how  the  search  for  Livingstone,  and  his 
intercourse  with  him  when  found,  were  great  causes 
of  development  in  his  inner  life.  'First,'  she  says, 
*  there  was  the  expedition  itself,  in  which  Stanley  carried 
an  immense  and  varied  responsibility.  He  was  not 
only  commander,  and  chief  of  staff,  but  the  whole  staff : 
discipline,  conamissariat,  and  medical  care  of  a  force  of 
200  men,  all  fell  on  him.'  Problems  of  war  and  diplomacy 
confronted  him :  he  was  no  longer  describing  events 
on  paper,  but  making  them,  as  a  man  dealing  with  men. 
Her  insight  goes  farther  still.  '  Along  with  the  develop- 
ing effect  of  the  experience,  comes  the  solitary  com- 
muning with  nature,  which  brings  a  spiritual  exaltation. 
Then  follows  the  companionship  with  Livingstone,  a 
man  of  heroic  and  ideal  traits,  uniquely  educated  by 
the  African  wilds  :  these  two  learn  to  known  each  other 
by  the  searching  test  of  hourly  companionship  amid 
savages,  perils,  perplexities,  days  of  adventure,  nights 
of  intimate  converse  ;  Stanley's  deepest  feelings  finding 
worthy  object  and  full  response  in  the  man  he  had 
rescued,  and  suggestions  of  spiritual  and  material 
resources  in  the  unknown  continent,  destined  to 
germinate  and  bear  fruit  :  all  this  his  first  African 
exploration  brought  to  Stanley.' 

The  world  did  not  at  first  understand  anything  of 


HENRY  STANLEY  147 

this  :  to  the  commoner  minds  a  journalist  was  a  jour- 
nalist, and  to  be  judged  as  such  to  the  end.  Moreover,  a 
man  with  so  pubhc  and  sensational  a  record  was  regarded 
as  a  fair  subject  for  any  and  every  kind  of  gossip  : 
vulgar,  hideous,  and  absurd  slanders  accompanied  his 
advancing  reputation,  like  a  mob  of  hooligans  running 
and  yelling  beside  a  great  procession.  The  effect  on 
him  was  excellent.  '  It  taught  me,'  he  says,  '  from 
pure  sympathy,  reflection,  and  conviction,  to  modify 
my  judgment  about  others.'  He  went  on  with  his 
work  and  left  all  this  noise  behind. 

First  he  lectured  in  England  and  America.  Then 
in  1873  he  went  as  special  correspondent,  with  the 
British  force  under  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley,  to  the  Ashantee 
Campaign.  Wolseley  had  been  somewhat  prejudiced 
against  him,  but  he  did  not  know  him  by  sight.  In 
the  battle  of  Amoaful  one  of  the  correspondents,  he 
says,  '  soon  attracted  my  attention  by  his  remarkable 
coolness.  A  thoroughly  good  man,  no  noise,  no  danger 
ruffled  his  nerve,  and  he  looked  as  cool  and  self-possessed 
as  if  he  had  been  at  target  practice.  Time  after  time, 
I  saw  him  go  down  to  a  kneeling  position  to  steady 
his  rifle,  as  he  plied  the  most  daring  of  the  enemy  with 
a  never-failing  aim.  It  is  nearly  thirty  years  ago,  and  I 
can  still  see  before  me  the  close-shut  lips  and  deter- 
mined expression  of  his  manly  face,  which  told  plainly 
I  had  near  me  an  Englishman  in  plain  clothes  whom 
no  danger  could  appal.  It  was  Sir  Henry  Stanley,  the 
famous  traveller.  Ever  since,  I  have  been  proud  to 
reckon  him  among  the  bravest  of  my  brave  comrades.' 
Not  a  bad  way,  that,  of  converting  one  of  those  who 
had  been  prejudiced  by  club  gossip. 

It  was  on  his  way  home  from  this  war  that  the 


148     THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

news  of  Livingstone's  death  met  Stanley.  He  accepted 
it  and  acted  upon  it  as  a  summons  to  his  real  life's  work. 
'  Dear  Livingstone  ! '  he  wrote  in  his  Journal.  '  Another 
sacrifice  to  Africa.  His  mission  must  not  be  allowed 
to  cease:  others  must  go  forward  and  fill  the  gap.' 
Then  he  prays  to  succeed  him,  but  adds  very  character- 
istically and  honestly :  '  My  methods,  however,  will  not 
be  Livingstone's.  Each  man  has  his  own  way.  His, 
I  think,  had  its  defects,  though  the  old  man,  personally, 
has  been  almost  Christ-like  for  goodness,  patience  and 
self-sacrifice.  The  selfish  and  wooden-headed  world 
requires  mastering,  as  well  as  loving  charity  :  for  man 
is  a  composite  of  the  spiritual  and  earthly.' 

After  his  return  to  England  he  sits  down  in  his 
clear  practical  fashion  to  lay  out  the  work  that  lay 
before  him,  as  he  conceived  it.  '  Let  me  see  :  Living- 
stone died  in  endeavouring  to  solve  the  problem  of  the 
Lualaba  river.  Speke  died  by  a  gunshot  wound  during 
a  discussion  as  to  whether  Lake  Victoria  was  one  lake, 
as  he  maintained  it  to  be,  or  whether,  as  asserted  by 
Captain  Burton,  James  McQueen  and  other  theorists, 
it  consisted  of  a  cluster  of  lakes. 

'  Lake  Tanganyika,  being  a  sweet-water  lake,  must 
naturally  possess  an  outlet  somewhere.  It  has  not 
been  circumnavigated,  and  is  therefore  unexplored.  I 
will  settle  that  problem  also. 

'  Then  I  may  be  able  to  throw  some  light  on  Lake 
Albert.  Sir  Samuel  Baker  voyaged  along  some  sixty 
miles  of  its  north-eastern  shore,  but  he  said  it  was 
illimitable  to  the  south-west.  To  know  the  extent  of 
that  lake  would  be  worth  some  trouble.' 

So  a  little  while  after  the  burial  of  Livingstone  in 
Westminster  Abbey  he  went  to  the  proprietor  of  the 


HENRY  STANLEY  149 

Daily  Telegraph  and  pointed  out  to  him  how  much 
of  Africa  still  remained  a  mystery.  Mr.  Lawson  at 
once  cabled  to  Mr.  Bennett  of  the  Herald,  and  the  two 
agreed  to  send  an  expedition  under  Stanley's  leadership 
to  settle  these  great  geographical  questions.  It  seems 
an  odd  thing  that  newspapers  and  not  Governments 
should  have  undertaken  such  a  piece  of  world-survey- 
ing ;  but  it  undoubtedly  freed  the  explorer  from  many 
restrictions  and  complications. 

The  story  of  the  two  great  journeys  which  were 
Stanley's  contribution  to  the  civilising  of  Africa  cannot 
be  told  in  this  book  ;  but  it  may  be  very  briefly  out- 
lined by  a  quotation  from  a  paper  read  in  December 
1908  by  Sir  William  Garstin  before  the  Royal  Geo- 
graphical Society. 

'  I  now  come,'  said  Sir  William,  '  to  what  is  perhaps 
the  most  striking  personality  of  all  in  the  roll  of  the 
discoverers  of  the  Nile,  that  of  Henry  Stanley.  Stanley 
on  his  second  expedition,  starting  for  the  interior  on 
November  17,  1874,  circumnavigated  Lake  Victoria  and 
corrected  the  errors  of  Speke's  map  as  to  its  shape 
and  area.  He  visited  the  Nile  outlet,  and  proved  that 
the  Nyanza  was  a  single  sheet  of  water  and  not,  as 
Burton  had  asserted,  a  chain  of  small  separate  lakes. 
.  .  .  Stanley's  acute  mind  quickly  grasped  the  possi- 
bilities of  Uganda  .  .  .  this  was  in  reality  the  first  step 
towards  the  introduction  of  British  rule  in  Equatorial 
Africa. 

'  Stanley's  last  voyage,  and  in  some  respects  his 
greatest  expedition,  was  undertaken  (in  1887)  for  the 
relief  of  Emin  Pasha,  at  that  time  cut  off  from  com- 
munication with  the  outside  world.  .  .  .  This  time 
Stanley  started  from  the  Congo,  and,  travelling  up  that 


150    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

river,  struck  eastwards  into  the  Great  Forest,  which, 
covering  many  thousands  of  square  miles,  stretches 
across  a  portion  of  the  Semliki  Valley  and  up  the  western 
flank  of  Ruwenzori.  On  emerging  from  the  Forest, 
Stanley  reached  the  Valley  of  the  Semliki,  and  in 
May  1888  he  discovered  the  mountain  chain  of  Ruwen- 
zori. This  discovery  alone  would  have  sufficed  to 
make  his  third  journey  famous.  It  was  not  all,  however. 
After  his  meeting  with  Emin,  he  followed  the  Semliki 
Valley  to  the  point  where  this  river  issues  from  the 
Albert  Edward  Nyanza  :  he  was  the  first  traveller 
to  trace  its  source  and  to  prove  that  it  connects  the 
two  lakes  and  consequently  forms  a  portion  of  the 
Nile  system.  Stanley  has  thus  cleared  up  the  last 
remaining  mystery  with  respect  to  the  Nile  sources.  It 
is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  importance  of  Stanley's 
work.' 

Stanley  therefore  carried  out  his  geographical 
programme  completely.  He  added  to  it  the  founding 
of  the  Congo  Free  State,  which  proved  him  a  great 
administrator  and  organiser.  'It  was,'  wrote  Sir 
Sidney  Low  afterwards,  '  a  wonderful  piece  of  manage- 
ment, a  triumph  of  energy,  resource  and  hard  work. 
Here  it  was  that  Stanley  earned  the  title  which  I  think 
gave  him  more  satisfaction  than  the  G.C.B.  conferred 
on  him  towards  the  end  of  his  life.  The  natives  called 
him  "  Bula  Matari  "  (the  Breaker  of  Rocks )^ — an 
appellation  bestowed  upon  him  by  the  brown-skinned 
villagers  as  they  watched  the  sturdy  explorer  toiling 
bare-armed  under  the  African  sun  with  axe  or  hammer 
in  hand,  showing  his  labourers  how  to  make  the  road 
from  Vivi  to  Isangela,  which  bridged  the  cataracts 
of  the  Lower  Congo  and  opened  the  way  to  the  upper 


HENRY  STANLEY  151 

reaches  of  the  river.'  It  is  a  fine  name,  and  it  was  finely- 
chosen  to  be,  with  the  word  '  Africa,'  the  only  inscription 
on  his  grave. 

He  died  at  dawn  on  May  10,  1904.  His  last  words 
were  perhaps  the  most  profoundly  significant  of  any 
recorded  of  great  men  passing  away  from  that  life 
which  '  apart  from  God  is  but  a  bubble  of  air.'  As 
four  o'clock  sounded  from  Big  Ben,  Stanley  opened 
his  eyes  and  said  '  What  is  that  ?  '  His  wife  told  him 
it  was  four  o'clock  striking.  '  Four  o'clock,'  he  re- 
peated slowly ;  '  how  strange !  So  that  is  Time  ! 
Strange  !  ' 


V.   BURKE  AND  WILLS 

1.  Australia  from  Sea  to  Sea 

Robert  O'Hara  Burke  was  born  in  1821  at  his  father's 
house  of  St.  Clerans  in  County  Galway,  Ireland.  Mr. 
Burke  had  been  a  soldier  in  his  youth,  and  his  three 
sons  were  all  destined  for  the  army.  The  eldest,  John, 
got  his  commission  in  the  88th  Foot,  and  served  in  the 
Crimean  War  ;  the  other  two,  James  and  Robert,  both 
went  as  cadets  to  Woolwich.  James  was  already  a 
lieutenant  in  the  Royal  Engineers  when  the  war  broke 
out,  and  he  went  to  Turkey  as  a  volunteer  before  our 
own  army  was  ready  to  sail.  He  fell  very  gallantly 
at  the  head  of  a  Turkish  landing  party  at  Giurgevo, 
the  first  British  officer  to  die  in  the  war.  Robert  was 
as  brave  as  his  brothers,  a  hard  athlete  and  a  bold  rider, 
but  he  was  apparently  of  a  more  roving  nature.  He  left 
Woolwich  to  go  to  Belgium  ;  he  went  from  Belgium 
into  the  Austrian  army,  and  then  home  again  into  the 
Irish  Constabulary.  After  five  years  of  this  he  emigrated 
to  Australia,  where  he  became  police  inspector  in  Mel- 
bourne, and  afterwards  district  inspector  and  magistrate 
in  the  Beechworth  district.  He  was  not  in  time  for 
the  Crimean  War,  though  he  hurried  back  to  offer  him- 
self as  soon  as  he  heard  of  it ;  but  on  his  return  to 
Australia  he  soon  found  an  adventure  for  which  he 
could  volunteer.  He  applied  for  and  obtained  the 
appointment  of  Leader  of  the  Victorian  Exploring 
Expedition. 

152 


BURKE  AND   WILLS  153 

It  may  seem  strange  to-day,  when  Australia  is  so 
famous  among  the  nations  of  our  Commonwealth,  that 
only  sixty  years  ago  it  should  have  been  necessary  to 
send  one  expedition  after  another  into  the  interior  to 
explore  what  had  long  been  British  territory.     But  a 
moment's  comparison  of  the  old  map  and  the  new  will 
change   this    feeling    into   one   of    admiration    for    the 
immense  work  that  has  been  done  in  so  short  a  time.     In 
the  Atlas  of  to-day  the  island  continent  of  Australia 
is  neatly  divided  by  straight  lines  into  three  vertical 
partitions,  almost  like  a  tricolour  flag,  with  the  right- 
hand    section    again    divided    into    three    horizontally. 
Western  Australia,  South  Australia,  Queensland,  New 
South    Wales,    Victoria — every     square    mile    of    the 
country  is  shown  as  belonging  to  one  of  them,  and  the 
map  is  fairly  covered  with  the  names  of  towns,  moun- 
tains, rivers,  springs,  a  desert  or  two,  and  some  thirty 
lakes.     If  you  turn  back  to  the  Atlas  of  sixty-five  years 
ago,  you  see  a  very  different  state  of  things  :    the  towns 
are  there,  most  of  them,  like  a  fringe  all  round  the  coast 
line,  but  the  vast  centre  of  the  map  is  almost  a  clean 
blank,  the  mountains  are  mostly  invisible,  the  few  lakes 
are  of  unrecognisable  shapes,  the  courses  of  the  rivers 
and  creeks  uncertain  or  incorrect.     And  from  Menindie 
on  the  river  Darling  a  tiny  dotted  trail  is  marked, 
running  up  a  little  way  into  the  blank  and  ending  there 
with    the    words    '  Sturt's    furthest    north,  September, 
1845.'     The   central   region   was  all  unknown — a  mys- 
terious land,   a  desert  haunted  by    restless  bands   of 
aborigines,  feeble  wandering  creatures,  like  the  ghosts 
of  lost  children.     It  was  this  region  that  the  Colony  of 
Victoria  determined  to  explore. 

The    Committee    organising    the     Expedition  was 


154    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

presided  over  by  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  Colony,  Sir 
William  Stawell,  a  man  of  great  ability  and  force  of 
character.  But  they  laid  a  train  of  misfortune  by  the 
very  first  step  they  took  after  appointing  Robert 
Burke  as  leader  :  they  gave  him  as  second  in  command 
a  Mr.  Landells,  who  had  successfully  imported  some 
camels  from  India  to  be  used  for  the  transport  of  the 
exploring  party.  Mr.  Landells  went  only  as  far  as 
Menindie,  the  place  from  which  the  real  start  was  to 
be  made,  and  there  he  resigned  his  appointment.  The 
reason  was  simply  irritation  at  finding  that  the  rum, 
with  which  he  had  intended  to  dose  his  camels,  was  to 
be  left  behind  by  Mr.  Burke's  orders— a  comical  matter 
to  quarrel  over,  but  sometimes  a  comic  beginning 
leads  to  a  tragic  end.  The  retirement  of  Landells 
necessitated  two  changes  in  the  personnel  of  the  ex- 
pedition :  Mr.  Wills,  the  third  officer,  became  second 
in  his  place,  and  for  third,  Mr.  Burke  now  appointed  a 
man  named  Wright,  who  afterwards  failed  him  lament- 
ably and  was  the  chief  cause  of  his  disaster.  But  no 
one  could  foresee  this,  and  Burke  probably  thought 
the  new  arrangement  all  to  the  good.  His  new  second 
officer,  William  John  Wills,  was  a  Devonshire  man, 
born  at  Totness  in  1834  and  educated  as  a  doctor  at 
St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital ;  but  being  also  devoted 
to  astronomy  he  was  induced  to  join  the  staff  of  the 
Observatory  in  Melbourne,  and  ended  by  volunteering 
to  go  as  meteorologist  with  Burke's  expedition.  He 
was  a  man  of  character,  patient,  persevering  and  trust- 
worthy, and  his  medical  knowledge  was  invaluable,  for 
the  German  doctor  Becklcr,  who  was  engaged  as  medical 
officer,  turned  tail  at  the  last  moment  and  absolutely 
refused  to  risk  himself  beyond  the  settled  districts. 


BURKE  AND  WILLS  155 

The  explorers  then  who  left  Menindie  on  October  19, 
1860,  were  nine  in  number  :  Burke,  Wills,  and  Wright  ; 
Brahe,  who  was  also  given  the  rank  of  officer  ;  four 
men  named  Patten,  M'Donough,  King,  and  Gray,  and 
a  sepoy.  Dost  Mohammed.  They  started  with  fifteen 
horses  and  sixteen  camels,  and  travelled  200  miles 
easily  in  the  first  ten  days,  over  a  splendid  grazing 
country.  This  brought  them  to  Torowoto  Swamp, 
more  than  halfway  to  Cooper's  Creek,  where  they  were 
to  form  their  main  depot.  From  Torowoto  Wright  was 
sent  back  to  Menindie  with  orders  to  bring  up  the  stores 
as  rapidly  as  possible  to  Cooper's  Creek. 

The  expedition  struck  Cooper's  Creek  on  Novem- 
ber 11,  and  moved  along  it  for  a  couple  of  stages. 
They  lost  three  camels  which  strayed  away  by  night, 
but  they  were  all  in  good  spirits,  planning  their  march 
right  across  the  continent  to  the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria 
on  the  northern  coast,  a  distance  of  about  1100  miles 
from  Menindie,  and  from  Cooper's  Creek  750,  or  nearly 
twice  the  length  of  England  and  Scotland.  At  last,,  on 
December  16,  Burke  divided  his  men  into  two  parties : 
Wills,  King,  and  Gray  were  to  make  the  great  march 
with  him,  taking  six  camels  and  one  horse,  while 
Patten,  M'Donough,  and  Dost  Mohammed  with  six 
camels  and  twelve  horses  were  to  remain  at  the  depot 
in  charge  of  Brahe,  until  Burke's  party  returned,  or 
their  own  provisions  ran  out ;  but  they  were  not  to 
leave  unless  from  absolute  necessity. 

On  the  morning  of  the  start  the  hopes  of  the  ex- 
ploring party  were  high  ;  and  they  were  destined  to  be 
splendidly  fulfilled.  But  close  upon  the  fulfilment  was 
to  follow  the  bitterest  disappointment  and  a  lingering 
death.     To  realise  the  greatness  of  what  Burke  and 


156     THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

Wills  achieved  and  the  hardness  of  the  fate  by  which 
they  perished,  it  is  necessary  to  keep  clearly  in  mind 
the  details  of  the  plan  upon  which  they  were  risking 
everything. 

The  distance  before  them  was  probably  1500  miles, 
out  and  back.  Ninety  days  of  marching  at  17  miles 
a  day  would  cover  this,  and  the  provisions  for  the 
journey  were  therefore  calculated  upon  this  basis. 
For  three  months  there  would  be  for  each  man  a 
daily  ration  of  one  pound  of  damper  (bread)  or  biscuit, 
three-quarters  of  a  pound  of  dried  meat,  and  a  quarter 
pound  of  salt  pork,  with  tea  and  sugar,  and  a  quarter 
pound  of  boiled  rice  every  second  day.  A  small  margin 
was  taken,  and  if  the  time  had  to  be  extended  to  four 
months  it  was  hoped  that  additional  food  might  be 
found  by  the  way.  In  four  months  then  at  the  outside 
the  explorers  must  be  back  at  their  dep6t  at  Cooper's 
Creek.  There  they  would  find  Brahe  and  his  party 
waiting  for  them  ;  and  there  also  would  be  an  ample 
store  of  provisions  brought  up  from  the  base  by  Wright, 
who  was  expected  to  have  made  his  first  journey  in 
support  only  two  days  after  Burke  left  Cooper's  Creek. 
However  exhausted  the  explorers  might  be,  if  they  could 
once  get  back  to  their  depot,  it  could  not  be  doubted 
that  they  would  find  their  supports  there,  with  food 
and  transport  in  abundance. 

The  outward  journey  was  not  only  hopeful,  but 
prosperous.  The  first  incident  was  an  encounter  with 
a  large  tribe  of  blacks,  who  begged  the  white  men  to 
come  to  their  camp  and  have  a  dance.  They  were  very 
troublesome,  but  easily  frightened  away,  for  though 
fine-looking  men,  they  were  poor  creatures  ;  the  ex- 
plorers   at    this    stage    thought    them    '  mean-spirited 


BURKE  AND  WILLS  157 

and  contemptible  in  every  respect.'  They  lived  by 
wandering  among  the  creeks  and  waterholes,  catching 
fish  and  gathering  nardoo  seeds  ;  their  gins  (squaws) 
and  piccaninnies  were  camped  in  gunyahs  or  blanket- 
shelters.  At  other  camps  further  on  the  blacks  brought 
presents  of  fish  to  the  explorers,  who  rewarded  them 
witli  beads  and  matches.  Sometimes  a  black  would 
be  seen  climbing  a  tree,  and  digging  out  some  kind  of 
opossum  from  a  hollow  branch  ;  sometimes  the  travellers 
would  find  themselves  tracked  by  silent  followers,  who 
watched  them  uncannily  from  among  the  box  bushes, 
as  haunting  and  as  harmless  as  things  in  a  nightmare. 
But  no  regrettable  incidents  occurred,  and  after  march- 
ing for  less  than  seven  weeks  the  party  had  good  reason 
to  believe  they  were  nearing  the  mouth  of  the  Flinders 
river,  which  flows  into  the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria.  Burke 
and  Wills  pushed  on  for  fifteen  miles  further,  and 
though  the  swampy  ground  prevented  them  from 
actually  reaching  the  coast,  the  saltness  of  the  tidal 
water  proved  that  they  had  succeeded  in  their  first 
object — they  had  crossed  the  Australian  continent 
from  south  to  north,  from  sea  to  sea. 

But  from  this  moment  the  luck  turned  against 
them.  They  had  been  eight  weeks  out  when  they 
reached  their  goal,  they  had  used  up  more  than  half 
their  provisions,  and  had  had  to  abandon  one  of  their 
camels  ;  it  was  necessary  to  quicken  their  pace  on  the 
return  march,  but  from  the  very  first  they  failed  to 
do  this.  Rain  made  the  ground  so  muddy  that  the 
camels  could  only  do  four  or  five  miles  a  day  ;  three  of 
them  died,  and  were  eaten  by  the  explorers,  who  were 
already  beginning  to  starve.  Then  Gray  became  ill, 
then  King.     The  daily  ration  was  reduced  to  a  quarter 


158    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

pound  of  flour  and  a  bit  of  dried  camel  meat,  with  the 
addition  of  a  vegetable  called  portulac  which  they 
found  here  and  there.  Once  they  shot  a  pheasant, 
but  it  turned  out  to  be  more  like  a  crow,  all  claws 
and  feathers.  Once  they  killed  an  enormous  snake, 
but  it  was  not  good  eating,  and  Burke  was  ill  after 
dining  on  it.  Worst  of  all,  poor  Gray,  who  was  suffering 
from  dj'sentery,  lost  his  moral  sense,  and  was  found  to 
be  in  the  habit  of  stealing  rations  beyond  his  fair  share. 
He  was  punished  and  forgiven  ;  but  he  was  more  and 
more  ill,  and  at  sunrise  on  April  17  he  became  speech- 
less, and  died  just  as  the  party  should  have  been  starting. 
For  a  week  past  they  had  all  been  living  solely  on  the 
dried  flesh  of  their  one  horse,  and  taking  it  in  turns 
to  ride  the  two  remaining  camels  ;  they  had  still  four 
days'  marching  before  them  and  were  extremely  weak. 
But  Gray's  death  moved  them  deeply,  and  they  would 
not  leave  his  body  unburied.  To  dig  a  grave  and  lay 
him  in  it  took  them  the  whole  of  that  day — and  that 
day,  as  it  turned  out,  was  all  the  margin  of  life  they 
had  in  hand. 

At  the  very  moment  when  they  started  again  on 
the  18th,  Brahe,  who  was  waiting  for  them  at  Cooper's 
Creek,  and  upon  whom  all  their  hopes  depended,  came 
to  the  end  of  his  patience  and  his  resolution.  Patten, 
one  of  the  men  left  with  him,  had  long  been  ill  with 
scurvy,  and  was  continually  begging  to  be  taken  back 
to  Menindie.  Wright,  in  all  these  months,  had  never 
brought  up  the  fresh  stores  as  he  had  been  ordered  to 
do.  Brahe  had  always  been  afraid  of  the  natives, 
nervous  about  the  horses,  and  anxious  for  Burke's 
return.  He  used  his  imagination  upon  his  own  dangers 
and  not  upon  those  of  the  explorers,  who  were  really 


BURKE  AND  WILLS 


159 


risking  their  lives.  This  very  day  he  wrote  in  his  diary 
*  There  is  no  probabiUty  of  Mr.  Burke  returning  this 
way.'  A  very  short  and  easy  reconnaissance  to  the 
north,  and  he  would  have  met  his  starving  leader  ;   but 


'  Taking  it  in  turns  to  ride  the  two  remaining  camela.' 


he  idly  counted  up  the  weeks,  and  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  he  need  no  longer  play  the  game.  On 
the  morning  of  April  21  he  buried  some  provisions, 
carved  the  word  '  Dig  '  on  a  tree  above  them,  put 
Patten  on  a  quiet  camel,  and  started  for  Menindie. 
Seven  hours  afterwards,  Burke,  Wills  and  King,  after 


160    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

a  forced  march  of  thirty  miles,  came  eagerly  into  the 
camp,  and  found  it  deserted. 

2.  White  Man  and  Black  Man. 

Brahe  in  his  retreat  covered  some  eighty  miles  in 
eight  days,  and  about  daybreak  on  April  29  he  ob- 
served smoke  rising  within  three  hundred  yards.  He 
supposed  that  he  had  dropped  upon  a  camp  of  natives, 
but  the  man  who  came  to  meet  him  was  a  European. 
The  place  he  had  chanced  upon  was  Bulloo,  where 
Wright  had  established  himself — apparently  in  com- 
plete idleness,  for  though  only  eighty  miles  from  Cooper's 
Creek,  he  had  never  in  all  the  eighteen  weeks  taken  the 
trouble  to  bring  up  any  clothes  or  provisions  to  the 
depot  where  Burke  would  be  expecting  to  find  them. 
He,  like  Brahe,  was  only  longing  for  the  moment  of 
retreat  ;  he  thought  the  natives  were  unfriendly  and 
dangerous,  and  he  had  already  packed  up  to  go,  when 
Brahe's  party  appeared  and  placed  themselves  under 
his  orders. 

They  all  left  Bulloo  for  Menindie  on  May  1.  The 
day's  entry  in  Wright's  diary  shows  at  one  glance  his 
slackness,  his  selfishness,  and  his  timidity.  '  I  did  not 
see  the  utility  of  pushing  on  the  depot  to  Cooper's 
Creek  for  the  purpose  of  remaining  there  the  few  weeks 
our  stores  would  last.  Our  cavalcade  made  quite  an 
imposing  appearance  with  its  twenty-two  horses  and 
fifteen  camels,  and  the  spirits  of  the  whole  party  were 
animated  by  the  prospect  of  regaining  the  settled 
districts  .  .  .  and  to  show  that  our  departure  was 
not  unnoticed  by  the  natives,  fires  sprang  up  at  every 
mile  of  our  progress  until  we  reached  Koorliatto,  at  a 
tolerably  early  hour  in  the  afternoon.' 


BURKE  AND  WILLS  161 

He  halted  two  days  at  Koorliatto,  and  his  imagi- 
nation perhaps  showed  him  pictures  of  the  much  less 
imposing  cavalcade  with  which  his  leader  was  struggling 
along  behind  him,  also  animated  by  the  desire  of 
regaining  the  settled  districts.  At  any  rate  on  May  3 
he  had  a  fit  of  uneasiness.  '  As  I  was  anxious  to 
ascertain,  before  finally  leaving  the  country,  whether 
Mr.  Burke  had  visited  the  old  depot  at  Cooper's  Creek 
between  the  present  date  and  that  on  which  he  left  on 
his  advance  northward,  or  whether  the  stores  cached 
there  had  been  disturbed  by  the  natives,  I  started  with 
Mr.  Brahe  and  three  horses  for  Cooper's  Creek.' 

It  is  the  mistakes,  the  disloyalties,  and  the  cross 
purposes  which  make  this  story  so  lamentable.  Burke 
and  Wills,  as  we  know,  had  visited  the  depot,  had 
taken  provisions  from  their  cache,  and  had  started 
again  on  their  terrible  homeward  journey  by  a  route 
of  which  we  shall  hear  presently.  Wright  and  Brah6 
were  fourteen  days  too  late  in  their  repentance  ;  they 
found  an  empty  camp,  stayed  there  '  not  more  than 
a  quarter  of  an  hour,'  and  rode  aAvay  again.  On  the 
ground  were  camel  tracks,  but  they  took  them  for 
the  old  tracks  of  Brahe 's  party ;  there  were  ashes 
of  two  or  three  fires,  but  they  supposed  them  to  have 
been  made  by  blacks  ;  in  the  cache  was  a  bottle  with 
a  message  from  Burke,  but  they  did  not  dig  it  up — 
they  thought  the  blacks  might  be  watching  them.  They 
stayed  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  rode  away.  This  time 
they  rode  straight,  with  or  without  misgivings.  In 
six  weeks  they  reached  Menindie,  and  by  June  30 
Brahe  was  in  Melbourne,  delivering  despatches  to  the 
Governor  and  Sir  William  Stawell. 

It  was  a  Sunday,    but    a    special    meeting    of   the 


162    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

Committee  was  held  instantly.  Sir  William  was  hopeful, 
but  pressed  for  the  immediate  despatch  of  a  relief  party. 
Someone  proposed  to  adjourn  till  Monday  ;  Sir  William 
was  firm,  '  All  we  know  now  is  that  four  men  whom  we 
sent  out  require  aid  ;  we  can  arrive  at  a  resolution  to 
send  aid.'  This  resolution  was  passed,  and  two  parties 
were  sent  out,  one  by  steamer  to  the  north,  and  one 
by  land. 

The  land  party  was  in  charge  of  Mr.  Howitt ;  he 
made  his  preparations  rapidly,  and  achieved  the  only 
success  that  was  still  possible.  By  September  3  he 
was  near  Bulloo,  and  striking  straight  for  Cooper's 
Creek.  On  the  6th  he  came  on  a  party  of  natives  ; 
some  of  them  ran  away,  some  waited  for  him,  waving 
branches,  and  jabbering  very  excitedly.  The  only 
young  man  among  them  was  trembling  as  if  in  terror. 
Howitt  could  get  only  one  intelligible  word  from  them, 
and  that  was  '  Gow,'  which  means  '  Go  on.'  They 
offered  an  older  man  a  knife,  if  he  would  guide  them  ; 
but  he  bolted  up  a  tree,  jabbering  incessantly  and 
pointing  towards  Cooper's  Creek. 

On  September  9  and  10  more  natives  were  met 
with,  but  they  also  were  unintelligible.  On  the  13th 
and  14th  tracks  of  stray  camels  were  seen,  and  on  the 
15th  some  horse  tracks  and  the  handle  of  a  clasp  knife. 
Howitt  now  had  strong  hopes  of  picking  up  Burke's 
trail.  In  the  afternoon  he  crossed  a  large  reach  of 
water  and  followed  the  track  of  a  camel  going  up  the 
creek.  Soon  afterwards  he  found  a  native  who  began 
to  gesticulate  in  a  very  excited  manner,  pointing  down 
the  creek  and  bawling  '  Gow,  gow  !  '  as  loud  as  he 
could.  Howitt,  finding  that  the  man  only  ran  away 
when  he  tried  to  approach  him,  turned  back  and  crossed 


BURKE  AND  WILLS 


163 


the  creek  to  rejoin  his  own  party.     In  doing  so,   he 
came  upon  three  pounds  of  tobacco,  which  had  evidently 


'  Waving  branches,  and  jabbering  very  excitedly. 


been  lying  for  some  time.  This,  together  with  the 
knife  handle,  the  fresh  horse  tracks  and  the  camel 
track  going  eastward,  puzzled  him  extremely,  and  led 
him  into  a  hundred  conjectures.     He  could  not  guess 


164    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

the  riddle ;  but  the  answer  was  not  far  off,  and  before 
the  end  of  this  day  of  hopes  and  fears  and  mysteries 
he  found  it.  At  the  lower  end  of  the  reach  of  water 
which  he  had  recrossed  he  saw  two  of  his  own  men 
coming  to  meet  him.  Evidently  they  had  news  for 
him,  but  he  could  not  tell  whether  good  or  bad.  It  was 
in  fact  both  good  and  bad.  King  had  been  found  ; 
but  he  was  the  only  survivor  of  Burke's  advance  party. 
Howitt  went  forward,  to  where  the  rest  of  his  men 
were  halted,  walked  across  to  the  .blacks'  camp  close 
by,  and  there  found  King  sitting  in  a  hut  which  the 
natives  had  made  for  him.  He  was  wasted  to  a  shadow, 
with  only  remnants  of  civilised  clothing  upon  him,  and 
so  weak  that  what  he  said  could  hardly  be  understood. 
The  natives,  childish  as  ever,  but  kindly  in  their  childish- 
ness, were  all  gathered  round  him,  seated  on  the  ground, 
looking  on  '  with  a  most  gratified  and  delighted  ex- 
pression '  to  see  their  guest  greeted  by  his  friends  at 
last.  For  more  than  a  month  they  had  fed  and  tended 
him  as  if  he  had  been  one  of  themselves. 

3.  The  Last  March 

We  must  now  go  back  to  Burke  and  Wills  and  tell 
their  story  to  the  end.  It  is  a  painful  story,  but  the 
pain  is  almost  lost  in  so  fine  a  record  of  conduct.  These 
two  suffered  betrayal  and  a  lingering  death  in  the 
desert ;  but  they  met  their  fate  without  complaining 
or  despair.  They  were  plain  men,  not  giants  or  figures 
of  romance  ;  but  they  gave  a  shining  example  of  how 
men  may  play  the  game  to  the  last,  faithful  to  each 
other  and  to  their  purpose,  even  when  others  have 
failed  them.  Best  of  all,  they  suffered  and  died  with- 
out leaving  one  word  of  bitterness  behind  them. 


BURKE  AND  WILLS  165 

We  know  all  that  we  could  desire  to  know  of  their 
last  adventure  :  we  have  Burke's  notes,  Wills's  diary, 
and  King's  narrative,  and  all  three  agree,  except  for 
one  trivial  error  in  a  date.  From  King  we  learn  that 
the  party  reached  Cooper's  Creek  in  a  state  of  complete 
exhaustion  after  their  forced  march  of  thirty  miles. 
'  It  was  as  much  as  one  of  them  could  do  to  crawl  to 
the  side  of  the  creek  for  a  billy  of  water.'  Burke  him- 
self seemed  for  a  time  '  too  excited  to  do  anything.' 
Naturally  :  he  was  the  responsible  leader,  he  saw  his 
whole  plan  ruined  by  Brahe's  desertion,  and  being  the 
most  imaginative  of  the  three  he  realised  in  a  moment 
of  terrible  insight  the  fate  which  lay  almost  inevitably 
before  them. 

It  was  Wills  who  first  set  about  the  business  of 
searching  for  some  indication  of  what  had  really  hap- 
pened. Scattered  about  the  place  he  found  certain 
articles  which  would  not  have  been  thrown  away  if 
Brahe's  party  had  been  merely  changing  station  for 
a  time.  Looking  more  closely  he  saw  an  inscription 
cut  upon  a  tree—'  DIG.  21  April,  1861.'  He  ex- 
claimed, '  They  have  left  here  to-day  !  '  and  imme- 
diately set  to  work  with  King  to  dig  beneath  the  tree. 
A  few  inches  underground  they  came  upon  a  box  of 
provisions — all  that  Brahe  had  been  able  to  leave  them 
— and  a  bottle  containing  a  letter,  which  was  eagerly 
lianded  to  Burke  and  read  aloud  by  him  : 

Depot,  Cooper's  Creek,  Ajjril  21,  1861. 

The  depot  party  of  V.E.E.  leaves  this  camp  to-day 
to  return  to  the  Darling  (river).  I  intend  to  go  S.E. 
from  Camp  60,  to  get  into  our  old  track  near  Bui  loo. 
Two   of  my   companions   and  myself  are   quite   well ; 


166  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAH. 

the  third — Patten — has  been  unable  to  walk  for  the 
last  18  days,  as  his  leg  has  been  severely  hurt  when 
thrown  by  one  of  the  horses.  No  person  has  been  up 
here  from  the  Darling.  We  have  six  horses  and  twelve 
camels  in  good  working  condition. 

William  Brake. 

This  was  a  fresh  blow  for  the  deserted  three  :  they 
knew  now  where  the  other  party  were,  but  the  message 
took  away  all  hope  of  being  able  to  overtake  them. 
Brahe  and  Co.  had  a  day's  start,  they  were  in  good 
health,  and  abundantly  supplied  with  transport. 
Three  half- starved  men  with  two  dead-beat  camels 
would  be  left  further  and  further  behind  every  day. 
They  could  not  guess  that  Brahe  would  meet  Wright 
at  Bulloo,  or  that  a  pang  of  conscience  would  drive 
them  both  back  to  Cooper's  Creek  within  a  fortnight. 
No,  the  explorers  felt  that  they  were  left  to  themselves 
and  must  make  their  own  way  out.  Their  first  decision 
was  to  rest  for  a  day  or  two,  and  recruit  their  strength 
with  the  food  they  had  found,  before  they  started  on 
their  last  lonely  march  by  whatever  route  seemed  best. 
Their  undefeated  courage  is  shown  by  the  day's  entry 
in  Wills's  diary : 

Arrived  at  the  depot  this  evening,  just  in  time  to 
find  it  deserted.  A  note  left  in  the  plant  by  Brahe 
communicates  the  pleasing  information  that  they  have 
started  to-day  for  the  Darling  :  their  camels  and  horses 
all  well  and  in  good  condition.  We  and  our  camels 
being  just  done  up  and  scarcely  able  to  reach  the 
depot,  have  very  little  chance  of  overtaking  them. 
.  .  .  These  provisions,  together  with  a  few  horseshoes 
and  nails  and  odds'and  ends,  constitute  all  the  articles 
left,  and  place  us  in  a  very  awkward  position  in  respect 


BURKE  AND  WILLS  167 

to  clothing.  Our  disappointment  at  finding  the  dep6t 
deserted  may  easily  be  imagined — returning  in  an  ex- 
hausted state,  after  4  months  of  the  severest  travelling 
and  privation,  our  legs  almost  paralysed,  so  that  each 
of  us  found  it  a  most  trying  task  only  to  walk  a  few 
yards.  Such  a  leg-bound  feeling  I  never  before 
experienced  and  I  hope  never  shall  again.  .  .  .  We 
were  not  long  in  getting  out  the  grub  that  Brahe  had 
left,  and  we  made  a  good  supper  off  some  oatmeal 
porridge  and  sugar.  This,  together  with  the  excitement 
of  finding  ourselves  in  such  a  peculiar  and  almost 
unexpected  position,  had  a  wonderful  effect  in  removing 
the  stiffness  from  our  legs. 

The  '  almost  unexpected  position  '  perhaps  refers 
to  the  discovery  of  the  provisions  after  the  first  dis- 
appointing moments.  Wills  was  under  the  impression 
that  they  had  now  '  ample  to  take  us  to  the  bounds  of 
civilisation.'  Not  that  they  could  attempt  to  overtake 
Brahe,  but  Burke  had  quickly  recast  his  plans,  and  now 
proposed  to  make  for  a  range  towards  the  S.W. — it 
was  called  by  the  ominous  name  of  '  Mount  Hopeless,' 
but  not  far  from  it  was  Mount  Searle,  one  of  the  regular 
South  Australian  police  stations,  and  the  whole  distance 
was  only  about  150  miles,  or  less  than  half  the  distance 
to  Menindie. 

Two  days  later  then  they  started,  after  Burke  had 
written  the  following  letter  and  deposited  it  in  the  bottle 
under  the  tree  with  the  word  '  DIG  '  carved  upon  it. 

Depot  No.  2,  Cooper^s  Creek,  Camp  65. 

The  return  party  from  Carpentaria,  consisting  of 
myself.  Wills  and  King  (Gray  dead),  arrived  here  last 
night,  and  found  that  the  depot  party  had  only  started 
on  the  same  day.     We  proceed  to-morrow  slowly  down 


168     THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

the  creek  towards  Adelaide,  by  Mount  Hopeless,  but 
we  are  very  weak.  The  two  camels  are  done  up,  and 
we  shall  not  be  able  to  travel  faster  than  4  or  5  miles 
a  day.  Gray  died  on  the  road,  from  exhaustion  and 
fatigue.  We  have  all  suffered  much  from  hunger. 
The  provisions  left  here  will,  I  think,  restore  our  strength. 
We  have  discovered  a  practicable  route  to  Carpentaria. 
There  is  some  good  country  between  this  and  the  Stony 
Desert.  From  there  to  the  tropics  the  country  is  dry 
and  stony.  Between  the  tropics  and  Carpentaria 
a  considerable  portion  is  rangy,  but  is  well  watered 
and  richly  grassed.  We  reached  the  shores  of  Car- 
pentaria on  the  11th  of  February,  1861.  Greatly 
disappointed  at  finding  the  party  were  gone. 

Robert  O'Hara  Burke,  Leader. 
April  22,  1861. 

P.S. — The  camels  cannot  travel  and  we  cannot 
walk,  or  we  should  follow  the  other  party.  We  shall 
move  very  slowly  down  the  creek. 

There  is  always  something  moving,  something 
significant,  about  letters  and  diaries  like  those  quoted 
above — messages  thrown  as  it  were  into  the  air  by 
lost  men  who  will  never  see  their  friends  again  and 
cannot  even  tell  if  their  record  will  ever  come  to  hand. 
The  specially  notable  thing  about  these  messages  is 
their  unembittered  tone.  They  are  gentle  men,  these 
two  :  they  say  quite  naturally  that  they  were  greatly 
disappointed,  but  the}''  neither  curse  their  fate,  nor  fear 
it  overmuch.  Above  all  they  leave  no  angry  reproach 
or  accusation  against  those  who  brought  their  disaster 
upon  them.  They  were  unfortunate,  but  not  unhappy, 
and  there  is  no  more  honourable  strength  than  that. 

Their  new  effort  began  almost  cheerfully  ;  as  long 
as  their  provisions  lasted   they   found   the   change  oi 


BURKE  AND  WILLS  169 

diet  made  a  great  improvement  in  their  spirits  and 
force.  But  they  remark  that  the  nights  are  very  chillj'^ 
from  their  deficiency  in  clothing.  Still  they  were  doing 
their  five  miles  a  day  and  getting  fish  from  friendly 
natives,  when  their  transport  animals  both  broke 
down  in  succession.  First  the  camel  Linda  on  the 
sixth  day's  march  got  bogged  near  a  waterhole  and 
could  not  be  got  out.  The  ground  was  a  bottomless 
quicksand,  through  which  the  poor  tired  beast  sank 
so  rapidly  that  it  was  impossible  to  get  bushes  or  timber 
fairly  beneath  him,  and  he  would  make  no  real  effort 
towards  extricating  himself.  In  the  evening,  after 
spending  the  whole  day  in  vain  attempts,  the  travellers 
as  a  last  chance  let  the  water  in  from  the  creek,  so  as 
to  buoy  the  animal  up  and  soften  the  ground  about  his 
legs.  But  Linda  was  not  to  be  roused  ;  he  '  lay  quietly 
in  it  as  if  he  quite  enjo3^ed  his  position,'  and  next  morning 
he  was  shot  and  converted  into  dried  meat.  Three 
days  later  the  other  camel,  Rajah,  showed  signs  of 
giving  out,  trembling  all  over,  and  stiffening  at  night. 
Another  week  and  he  had  shared  Linda's  fate. 

Meanwhile  Burke  and  Wills  had  been  wandering 
about  in  search  of  fresh  food  supplies,  for  time  was 
running  heavily  against  them  now.  Twice  they  foimd 
black  men  fishing,  and  were  most  hospitably  entertained 
by  them  with  fish,  rats  baked  in  their  skins,  and  cakes 
made  of  pounded  nardoo  seeds.  Burke  determined  to 
find  out  where  he  and  his  companions  could  find  nardoo 
for  themselves,  and  how  to  trap  rats.  But  when  he 
tried  to  meet  the  blacks  again  he  failed  to  find  them  ; 
they  were  constantly  on  the  move. 

He  decided,  therefore,  that  a  fresh  attempt  must  be 
made  to  march  towards  Mount  Hopeless.     All  three  of 


170    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

the  travellers  were  now  terribly  tired,  they  had  to 
march  on  foot,  and  their  daily  ration  was  much  reduced. 
But  no  sooner  had  they  started  than  they  had  a  gleam 
of  good  luck  :  at  the  foot  of  a  sandhill  King  caught 
sight,  in  the  flat,  of  some  nardoo  seeds,  and  soon  found 
that  the  whole  flat  was  covered  with  them.  '  This 
discovery,'  says  Wills,  '  caused  somewhat  of  a  revolution 
in  our  feelings,  for  we  considered  that  with  the  know- 
ledge of  this  plant  we  were  in  a  position  to  support 
ourselves,  even  if  we  were  destined  to  remain  on  the 
creek  and  wait  for  assistance  from  town.'  Unhappily 
the  nardoo  was  not  so  nutritious  a  diet  as  they  imagined  : 
it  needed  to  be  supplemented  by  fat  of  some  kind,  and 
as  they  could  not  get  that  they  began  to  starve  slowly. 

A  week  later  they  were  mocked  by  another  momen- 
tary gleam  of  hope.  It  was  May  24,  and  Wills  had  gone 
out  with  King  '  to  celebrate  the  Queen's  birthday  by 
fetching  from  Nardoo  Creek  what  is  now  to  us  the 
staff  of  life.'  While  picking  the  seed,  about  11  a.m. 
both  the  men  heard  distinctly  the  noise  of  an  explosion, 
as  of  a  gun,  at  a  considerable  distance.  They  supposed 
it  to  be  a  shot  fired  by  Burke  ;  but  on  returning  to  the 
camp  they  found  that  he  had  neither  fired  a  shot  nor 
heard  one.  Yet  there  could  have  been  no  mistake  ; 
a  gunshot  is  a  sound  everyone  knows,  both  Wills  and 
King  had  heard  it,  and  there  was  nothing  to  indicate 
a  thunderstorm  in  any  direction. 

This  mysterious  occurrence  probably  had  some 
weight  in  their  decision  to  stay  where  they  were,  rather 
than  try  again  to  crawl  towards  Mount  Hopeless.  Burke 
took  the  precaution  of  sending  Wills  back  up  the  creek 
to  the  depot,  to  place  a  note  there,  stating  that  they 
were  now  living  on  the  creek.     This  was  very  necessary, 


BURKE  AND  WILLS  171 

for  the  note  they  had  left  stated  that  the}^  were  marching 
for  Adelaide  by  way  of  Mount  Hopeless.  Wills  set  out 
on  May  27,  with  the  new  note  and  his  journals  ;  he 
carried  some  nardoo,  and  was  liberally  helped  by  some 
natives  on  the  way.  On  the  30th  he  reached  the 
depot ;  Wright  and  Brahe,  as  we  know,  had  been  there 
three  weeks  before,  but  their  visit  of  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  had  left  no  trace  whatever.  Wills  wrote  on  this 
day  his  last  letter,  and  deposited  it  with  his  journals 
in  the  cache  : 

Depot  Camp,  May  30. 

We  have  been  unable  to  leave  the  Creek.  Both 
camels  are  dead,  and  our  provisions  are  done.  Mr. 
Burke  and  King  are  down  the  lower  part  of  the  creek.  I 
am  about  to  return  to  them,  when  we  shall  probably 
come  up  this  way.  We  are  trying  to  live  the  best  way 
we  can,  like  the  blacks,  but  find  it  hard  work.  Our 
clothes  are  going  to  pieces  fast.  Send  provisions  and 
clothes  as  soon  as  possible. 

W.  J.  Wills. 

The  depot  party  having  left,  contrary  to  instructions, 
has  put  us  in  this  fix.  I  have  deposited  some  of  my 
journals  here,  for  fear  of  accidents.  W.  J.  W. 

He  left  again  the  same  afternoon,  and  on  his  way 
back  stayed  with  the  blacks  in  their  camp,  '  intending 
to  test  the  practicability  of  living  with  them.'  He 
found  that  they  had  kept  Burke  and  King  well  supplied 
with  fish  in  his  absence,  and  when  he  rejoined  his  friends 
they  all  agreed  to  move  camp  to  be  nearer  these  friendly 
natives.  But  they  were  all  three  very  weak  now,  and 
when  they  had  crawled  to  the  place  the  blacks  had  once 
more  vanished. 


172  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAH. 

By  June  21,  Burke  and  Wills  were  losing  the  power 
of  walking ;  they  sat  all  day  pounding  the  nardoo 
which  King  was  still  able  to  bring  in.  The  end  was 
in  sight.     Wills  wrote  in  his  diary : 

Unless  relief  comes  I  cannot  possibly  last  more  than 
a  fortnight.  It  is  a  great  consolation,  at  least,  in  this 
position  of  ours,  to  know  that  we  have  done  all  we 
could,  and  that  our  deaths  will  be  the  result  of  the  mis- 
management of  others  rather  than  of  any  rash  acts  of  our 
own.  Had  we  come  to  grief  elsewhere,  we  could  only  have 
blamed  ourselves  ;  but  here  we  are,  returned  to  Cooper's 
Creek  where  we  had  every  reason  to  look  for  provisions 
and  clothing  :  and  yet  we  have  to  die  of  starvation,  in 
spite  of  the  explicit  instructions  given  by  Mr.  Burke 
that  the  depot  party  should  await  our  return,  and  the 
strong  recommendation  to  the  Committee  that  we  should 
be  followed  up  by  a  party  from  Menindie. 

This  is  the  only  word  of  anything  like  complaint 
Avritten  by  these  starving  men,  and  it  is  put  down  as 
a  '  consolation,'  a  defence  of  themselves  rather  than  a 
charge  against  others.  Wills  was  in  no  complaining 
mood,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  very  last  entry  in  his 
journal,  written  when  Burke  and  King  were  driven 
to  leave  him  for  a  day  or  two  and  make  a  last  attempt 
to  find  the  natives. 

Friday,  June  28. — Clear  cold  night :  day  beautifully 
warm  and  pleasant.  Mr.  Burke  suffers  greatly  from 
the  cold  and  is  getting  extremely  weak.  He  and  King 
start  to-morrow  up  the  creek  to  look  for  the  blacks  : 
it  is  the  only  chance  we  have  of  being  saved  from 
starvation.  (They  have  both  shown  great  hesitation 
and  reluctance  with  regard  to  leaving  me,  and  have 
repeatedly  desired  my  candid  opinion  in  the  matter.) 


BURKE  AND  WILLS  173 

I  am  weaker  than  ever,  although  I  have  a  good  appetite 
and  rehsh  the  nardoo  much  ;  but  it  seems  to  give  us 
no  nutriment.  .  .  .  Nothing  now  but  the  greatest 
good  kick  can  save  any  of  us  ;  and  as  for  myself,  I  may 
live  four  or  five  days  if  the  weather  continues  warm. 
My  pulse  is  at  48  and  very  weak,  and  my  legs  and  arms 
are  nearly  skin  and  bone.  I  can  only  look  out,  like 
Mr.  JMicawber,  '  for  something  to  turn  up.'  Starvation 
on  nardoo  is  by  no  means  very  unpleasant,  but  for  the 
weakness  one  feels,  and  the  utter  inability  to  move 
oneself  ;  for  as  far  as  appetite  is  concerned,  it  gives  me 
the  greatest  satisfaction  .  .  .  but  the  want  of  sugar  and 
fat  in  all  substances  obtainable  here  is  so  great  that 
they  become  almost  valueless  to  us  as  articles  of  food, 
without  the  addition  of  something  else. 

When  Wills  wrote  this  passage  of  quiet  humour 
and  scientific  observation  he  knew  that  it  was  the  end 
of  his  journal,  for  he  signed  it  with  his  name.  Next 
morning  Burke  and  King  said  goodbye,  and  he  was 
seen  no  more  alive. 

Burke  too  was  dying,  but  he  was  a  man  of  tremendous 
energy  and  will  power,  and  he  thought  he  had  a  chance 
of  saving  his  companions.  The  first  day  he  made 
a  good  march  :  but  on  June  30  he  broke  down  at 
the  second  mile.  All  that  day — the  very  Sunday  on 
which  Sir  William  Stawell  was  so  urgent  on  the  sending 
of  a  relief  expedition — Burke  was  making  effort  after 
effort  to  find  a  rescue  party  for  his  friend.  '  Every  step 
in  advance  was  a  chance  for  Mr.  Wills  ' ;  he  threw  his 
swag  away,  and  struggled  on ;  '  he  walked  till  he 
dropped.'  At  night  King  shot  a  crow,  and  they  made 
their  last  meal  together. 

A  little  later  Burke  told  King  to  give  his  watch  and 
pocket-book   to   Sir  William  Stawell,   and  asked  him 


174    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

to  stay  with  him  till  he  was  quite  dead,  then  to  place 
his  pistol,  given  him  by  friends,  in  his  right  hand,  and 
leave  him  unburied  as  he  lay.  During  the  night  he 
wrote  with  a  firm  hand  a  farewell  to  his  sister,  and  at 
dawn  he  died. 

King  obeyed  his  last  wishes  and  wandered  on, 
then  back  to  the  depot  where  he  found  Wills  lying  dead. 
He  buried  the  body  in  sand,  and  immediately  afterwards 
succeeded  in  tracking  the  natives.  They  evidently 
knew  of  Wills's  death,  and  appeared  to  feel  great  com- 
passion for  King  when  they  understood  that  he  was  now 
alone  on  the  creek.  But  like  children  they  alternately 
got  tired  of  him  and  again  heaped  him  with  attentions. 
Like  children  too  they  were  very  anxious  to  know  where 
Burke  lay  dead,  and  one  day  King  took  them  to  the 
spot.  On  seeing  the  lonely  body  the  whole  party  wept 
bitterly,  and  covered  it  with  bushes.  After  that  they 
were  much  kinder  than  ever  before,  and  in  the  evenings, 
when  they  came  with  fish  and  nardoo,  they  used  to 
talk  about  the  '  white  fellows  '  coming,  and  point  to 
the  moon,  for  King  had  told  them  that  white  men 
would  come  for  him  before  two  moons.  At  last  one  day, 
one  of  them  came  back  from  fishing  and  told  him  that 
the  '  white  fellows  '  were  near,  and  the  whole  tribe 
then  sallied  out  in  every  direction  to  meet  the  party. 

King  took  only  two  days  to  recover  his  strength. 
Before  starting  homeward  he  and  Mr.  Howitt  invited 
the  whole  tribe  of  blacks  to  come  over  to  the  white 
men's  camp  and  receive  presents  as  an  acknowledg- 
ment of  their  kindness.  They  came  in  a  long  pro- 
cession, men,  women  and  piccaninnies,  bawling  as 
usual  at  the  top  of  their  voices.  The  presents  were 
tomahawks,    knives,    necklaces,    looking    glasses,    and 


BURKE  AND  WILLS  175 

combs.  '  I  think, '  says  Howitt,  '  no  people  were  ever 
so  happy  before  ;  they  pointed  out  one  or  another  who 
they  thought  might  be  overlooked.  The  piccaninnies 
were  brought  forward  by  their  parents  to  have  red 
ribbon  tied  round  their  dirty  little  heads  .  .  .  and 
they  left  making  signs  expressive  of  friendship.'  Next 
day  the  white  men  were  on  their  homeward  way. 

So  ended  the  Victorian  Exploring  Expedition,  and 
few  adventures  have  ever  stirred  more  profoundly  the 
feelings  of  the  worldwide  British  race.  Besides  their 
fame,  the  memory  of  the  two  leaders  received  every 
possible  honour  :  in  Melbourne  a  public  monument  and 
a  resolution  of  both  Houses  of  Parliament ;  in  London 
the  medal  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  and  a 
special  despatch  from  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the 
Colonies.  'I  am  fully  sensible,'  he  wrote,  'of  the 
advantages  which  their  dearly  bought  success  will 
confer  on  geographical  science  and  on  their  Australian 
fellow-colonists,  and  I  gladly  embrace  this  opportunity 
of  expressing  the  admiration  which  I  feel  for  the  spirit 
of  enterprise  in  which  their  task  was  undertaken, 
the  perseverance  with  which  it  was  pursued,  and  the 
patience  and  mutual  fidelity  which,  even  to  the  unhappy 
termination  of  their  labours,  appear  never  to  have 
forsaken  them.' 


VI.  FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND 
1.  A  Boy's  Will 

A  boy's  will  is  the  wind's  will, 

And  the  thoughts  of  youth  are  long,  long  thoughts. 

Francis  Edward  Younghusband  was  born  in  1863 
at  Murree,  a  hill  station  on  the  north-west  frontier 
of  India,  some  forty  miles  beyond  Rawal  Pindi.  His 
father,  Major-General  John  William  Younghusband,  be- 
longed to  an  old  Northumbrian  family  which  has  given 
many  good  men  to  the  military  and  naval  services  of 
India  and  England ;  his  mother  was  sister  to  Robert 
Shaw,  the  explorer,  who  with  Hayward  was  the  first 
Englishman  to  push  his  way  right  through  the  Himalayas 
to  the  plains  of  Turkestan  beyond.  By  inheritance  and 
tradition,  he  was  marked  out  for  a  soldier  or  an  explorer. 
In  1876,  before  he  was  thirteen,  he  went  to  school 
at  Clifton,  where  he  spent  nearly  five  years  among  a 
set  of  contemporaries  of  whom  many  were  destined  to 
make  a  name  in  very  various  careers.  A  number  of 
them  were  training  for  military  service,  and  of  these 
no  less  than  four  lived  to  hold  high  command  during 
the  Great  War,  as  Sir  Douglas  Haig,  Sir  William 
Birdwood,  Sir  David  Campbell,  and  Sir  George  Young- 
husband. Frank,  too,  chose  the  Army,  and  in  1882 
got  his  commission  in  the  King's  Dragoon  Guards; 
but  when  he  had  been  three  years  in  the  service,  for 

176 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND         177 

which  he  had  every  kind  of  quahfication,  his  whole 
career  was  changed  by  a  cause  which  arose  suddenly 
from  within  himself  and  overpowered  all  other  influences. 
It  was  in  1884,  he  says,  that  the  first  seeds  of  this  change 
were  sown.  He  had  obtained  a  few  months'  leave 
from  his  regiment,  which  was  then  stationed  at  Rawal 
Pindi,  and  this  leave  was  spent  in  touring  through 
some  of  the  lower  ranges  of  the  Himalayas.  By  a 
natural  instinct  he  went  first  to  Dharmsala,  for  many 
years  the  home  of  his  uncle,  Robert  Shaw.  '  Here,' 
he  says,  '  I  was  among  the  relics  of  an  explorer,  at  the 
very  house  in  which  he  had  planned  his  explorations, 
and  from  which  he  had  started  to  accomplish  them. 
I  pored  over  the  books  and  maps,  and  talked  for  hours 
with  the  old  servants,  till  the  spirit  of  exploration 
gradually  entered  my  soul,  and  I  rushed  off  on  a  pre- 
liminary tour  on  foot,  in  the  direction  of  Tibet.' 

From  the  very  first  moment  of  this  impulse  it  was 
clear  that  he  had  found  the  romance  of  his  life.  He 
was  wholly  given  up  to  the  passion  of  travel,  enchanted 
with  the  scenery  of  such  valleys  as  those  of  Kangra 
and  Kulu,  excited  by  the  thought  of  crossing  his  first 
snow  pass,  and  loving  a  tramp  merely  for  its  own  sake. 
One  march  a  day  was  not  enough  for  him  :  he  made 
two  regularly,  and  sometimes  three  :  he  wanted  to  go 
everywhere  in  his  two  months'  leave.  He  came  back 
with  the  exploring  fever  thoroughly  on  him,  and  was 
lucky  in  being  sent  almost  at  once  on  a  reconnaissance 
up  the  Indus  and  towards  the  Afghan  frontier.  When 
he  returned  from  this,  he  was  ordered  to  revise  the 
'  Gazetteer  '  of  the  Kashmir  frontier,  and  so  became 
familiar  with  all  the  approaches  to  the  mysterious  land 
of  Yarkand  and  Kashgar,  of  which  he  had  read  in  the 


178    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

old  house  at  Dharmsala,  where  his  uncle  before  him 
had  thought  the  same  thoughts  and  planned  the  like 
expeditions. 

Adventures  are  to  the  adventurous,  says  the  proverb, 
and  it  is  often  seen  that  when  a  man  has  once  devoted 
himself  to  a  pursuit,  opportunities  spring  up  in  front 
of  him.  By  mere  chance  Frank  found  himself  one 
evening  at  a  dinner  party  at  Simla,  talking  to  Mr. 
H.  E.  M.  James,  then  Director- General  of  the  Post 
Office  in  India,  and  a  confirmed  tramp.  The  magic 
words  '  Yarkand  '  and  '  Kashgar '  made  them  friends 
on  the  spot.  Soon  afterwards,  on  a  Sunday  afternoon, 
Mr.  James  walked  in  and  asked  Younghusband  if  he 
would  go  a  journey  with  him.  He  did  not  say  what 
the  journey  was  to  be,  but  to  make  a  journey  anywhere 
was  good  enough  for  Frank.  '  I  remember,'  he  says, 
'  sitting  that  afternoon  in  church  at  Simla  and  looking 
up  the  rows  of  people,  thinking  how  every  man  amongst 
them  would  wish  to  be  in  my  place  :  for  at  that  time 
I  thought  that  everybody  must  necessarily  want  to 
make  a  journey  if  he  could  only  get  a  chance.'  It  is 
probable  that  among  British  boys  of  twenty-one  a 
large  proportion  would  be  of  this  way  of  thinking,  and 
still  more  probable  that  even  now  Sir  Francis  Young- 
husband  keeps  the  same  belief  at  the  bottom  of  his 
heart. 

The  two  travellers  decided  upon  China  for  their 
country,  and  for  their  objective  they  chose  a  mountain 
famous  in  Chinese  legends — the  Chang-pai-shan,  or 
'  Ever- White  Mountain,'  which  had  only  once  been 
visited  by  Europeans,  and  that  was  in  1709.  On 
March  19,  1886,  James  and  Younghusband  sailed  from 
Calcutta,  and  on  May  19  they  started  inland  from  the 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND  179 

treaty  port  of  Newchwang,  travelling  in  little  tandem 
mule-carts  with  their  legs  dangling  over  the  shafts  and 
their  baggage  heaped  up  behind.  At  Mukden,  the 
capital  of  Manchuria,  they  exchanged  these  for  a  cara- 
van of  mules,  and  set  out  towards  the  Yalu  River. 

The  buildings  of  the  country,  especially  the  temples, 
were  tawdry  and  flimsy,  the  people  strong  and  hard- 
working, with  enormous  appetites.  But  their  customs 
were  uncomfortable.  '  The  Chinese  and  Manchus  never 
milk  their  cows  .  .  .  they  will  eat  rats  and  dogs,  but 
they  will  not  drink  milk,  and  we  missed  this  simple 
necessary  very  much.'  On  the  other  hand  the  scenery 
was  hilly  and  extremely  beautiful :  the  woods  were 
of  oak  and  elm  trees,  such  as  are  common  in  England 
but  unkno'\\Ti  in  India.  The  valleys  were  filled  with 
thriving  little  villages,  and  the  quantity  of  ferns  and 
wild  flowers  was  extraordinary.  Mr.  James  was  making 
a  botanical  collection,  and  found  in  one  day  five  kinds 
of  lily  of  the  valley,  several  maidenhair  varieties — 
one  especially  lovely,  in  shape  like  a  spiral  bowl — 
besides  lilies,  violets,  anemones,  and  other  familiar 
English  flowers.  It  was,  they  thought,  '  a  perfect 
little  country.' 

The  river  Yalu,  where  they  struck  it,  was  300  yards 
wide  and  10  to  15  feet  deep  ;  it  was  covered  to  the 
water's  edge  with  forests,  broken  only  by  occasional 
meadows,  dense  with  flowers — lilies,  purple  irises,  and 
columbines  in  waving  sheets  of  colour.  Rafts  drifted 
quietly  down  this  great  river,  while  the  travellers  had 
to  plod  laboriously  through  the  forest  up  stream.  Day 
after  day  they  toiled  over  the  ridges,  simply  swamped 
in  forest  and  seeing  nothing  but  the  trunks  of  trees, 
forcing  a  way  for  their  mules,  eaten  all  day  by  midges 


180    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

and  gadflies  and  all  night  by  mosquitos.  At  last  they 
crossed  the  Yalu  at  Tang-ho-kou,  and  turned  up  the 
valley  of  the  Sungari  River  into  the  heart  of  the  forest 
which  surrounds  the  Ever- White  Mountain.  Here  they 
did  fifteen  to  twenty  miles  a  day  through  incessant 
bogs  and  on  very  scanty  rations :  moreover  they 
had  to  abandon  their  mules  and  carry  the  provisions 
themselves. 

After  four  days  of  this  work  the  forest  opened  out 
and  they  saw  with  infinite  relief  the  mountain  they 
were  seeking.  It  was  only  some  8000  feet  high  after 
all,  but  '  what  it  lacked  in  grandeur  was  made  up  for 
in  beauty,  for  its  sides  were  covered  with  the  most 
exquisite  meadows  and  copses.  In  Kashmir  there  are 
many  beautiful  meadows,  but  none  to  compare  with 
those  of  the  Ever-White  Mountain.'  Among  scattered 
and  stately  fir-trees  were  masses  of  ferns,  irises,  tiger- 
lilies,  columbines,  gentians,  buttercups,  azaleas,  and 
orchids,  all  in  their  freshest  bloom.  The  mountain 
itself  had  two  rugged  peaks,  with  a  saddle  between 
them  and  open  slopes  below  covered  with  long  grass 
and  dwarf  azaleas,  heather,  yellow  poppies,  and  gentians. 
But  the  great  surprise  of  all  came  when  the  travellers 
reached  the  saddle  and  saw,  not  a  wide  panorama, 
but  '  a  most  beautiful  lake  in  a  setting  of  weird  fantastic 
cliffs  '  just  at  their  feet.  They  were  in  fact  on  an 
extinct  volcano ;  what  had  once  been  its  fiery  crater 
was  now  a  lake  of  a  peculiarly  deep  blue,  six  or  seven 
miles  round,  and  out  of  it  flowed  the  main  branch  of 
the  Sungari — a  magnificent  river  excelled  by  few  others 
in  the  world.  It  was  impossible  to  climb  down  the 
volcanic  cliffs  to  the  lake,  but  Younghusband  succeeded 
in  reaching  the  summit  of  the  highest  peak  and  looking 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND  181 

over  the  endless  forests  of  Corea.  He  also  found  the 
secret  of  the  Ever- White  Mountain  :  it  was  white,  not 
with  snow,  but  with  pumice-stone  thrown  up  by  the 
old  volcano.  This  and  its  flowers  and  its  wonderful 
solitary  lake  made  it  more  remarkable  than  many 
snow  mountains. 

The  travellers  now  regained  their  mules  and  marched 
to  Kirin,  where  they  rested  for  three  weeks  ;  then  on 
September  3,  still  north  by  the  Sungari  to  Tsitsihar, 
then  east  to  Sansing,  then  south  to  Ninguta  and  to 
Hunchun,  where  Russian,  Chinese,  and  Corean  territory 
meet.  Winter  was  now  upon  them,  and  with  the 
thermometer  at  11°  Fahrenheit  they  hurried  back 
through  Kirin  to  Newchwang,  which  they  reached 
on  December  19,  just  seven  months  after  they  had 
started  out  from  it.  There  they  parted  with  regret  : 
Mr.  James  went  to  Port  Arthur  and  Japan,  Young- 
husband  by  land  to  Tientsin  and  Peking,  full  of  gratitude 
to  his  first  travelling  companion  and  travel  teacher, 
and  of  eager  desire  to  make  fresh  use  of  the  experience 
he  had  gained. 

2.  Through  the  Great  Wall 

At  Peking  Frank  staj'cd  with  Sir  John  and  Lady 
Walsham  in  the  British  Legation,  an  old  palace  with 
large  and  fine  rooms  in  which  his  kind  hosts  were 
constant!}'  giving  brilliant  entertamments.  But  he 
was  ready  for  any  fresh  adventure,  and  he  had  not 
long  to  wait.  News  came  that  Col.  M.  S.  Bell,  V.C, 
of  the  Royal  Engineers,  was  to  come  to  Peking  and 
travel  right  across  to  India.  Directly  he  arrived 
Frank  asked  to  be  allowed  to  accompany  him.  Colonel 
Bell  at  once  consented,  but  as  he  himself  was  employed 


182    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

on  Intelligence  work  and  must  go  by  the  best  and  most 
populous  route,  he  suggested  that  they  should  travel 
separately  so  that  Frank  could  explore  the  more  remote 
regions  of  Mongolia  and  Turkestan.  This  was  evidently 
the  best  opportunity  for  a  young  traveller,  if  he  did  not 
mind  making  his  way  alone  through  thousands  of  miles 
of  desert  and  mountain,  by  a  track  never  trodden  by 
any  other  European.  So  while  Sir  John  Walsham 
telegraphed  to  Lord  Dufferin  about  Lieutenant  Young- 
husband's  leave  of  absence  from  his  regiment,  the  two 
travellers  mapped  out  their  routes,  and  agreed  to 
rendezvous  at  Hami,  the  other  side  of  the  great  Gobi 
Desert,  and  nearly  2,000  miles  from  the  start.  Colonel 
Bell  then  went  off,  and  Frank  saw  no  more  of  him,  for 
he  was  a  very  rapid  and  efficient  traveller,  and  had  the 
reputation  of  never  waiting  more  than  three-quarters 
of  an  hour  for  any  man.  As  a  matter  of  fact  he  reached 
Hami  three  weeks  before  Frank,  but  he  assured  him 
afterwards  that  he  had  waited  for  him  there  a  whole 
day,  and  was  astonished  that  he  did  not  arrive  in  time. 
He  was  no  doubt  joking,  for  the  direct  route  across 
the  Gobi  Desert  was  beyond  his-  power  to  estimate. 
No  one  in  Peking  could  be  found  to  give  any  informa- 
tion about  it,  or  about  the  state  of  the  country  on  the 
other  side ;  there  was  no  knowing  how  a  solitary 
European  traveller  would  be  likely  to  be  received  there. 
It  was  a  real  plunge  into  the  unknown.  '  Had  but 
one  traveller  gone  through  before  me,'  Frank  wrote 
afterwards,  '  had  I  even  now  with  me  a  companion 
upon  whom  I  could  rely,  or  one  good  servant  whom  I 
could  trust  to  stand  by  me,  the  task  would  have  seemed 
easy  in  comparison.'  But  he  was  all  his  life  to  be 
distinguished  by  indomitable  self-reliance,  and  he  took 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND         183 

his  plunge  with  only  two  Chinese  servants,  of  whom  one 
turned  l^ack  when  he  came  to  the  edge  of  the  desert. 
The  other,  the  faithful  Liu-san,  interpreter,  cook,  table 
servant,  groom,  and  carter,  was  always  willing  to  face 
the  difficulties  of  the  road  ;  he  went  right  through  to 
India  and  earned  his  master's  confidence  and  gratitude. 
The  journey  began  on  April  4,  1887.  For  the  first 
two  weeks  Younghusband  rode,  with  the  baggage 
following  in  carts.  The  day  after  leaving  Peking  he 
passed  through  the  inner  branch  of  the  Great  Wall  of 
China  at  the  Nankou  Gate,  and  two  days  later  he  came 
to  the  outer  branch  at  Kalgan.  This  was  not  his 
first  sight  of  the  Great  Wall,  for  it  runs  down  to  the  sea 
at  Shan-hai-Kuan,  through  which  he  had  passed  on 
the  march  from  Newchwang  to  Tientsin.  That  section 
of  it  was  wonderful,  in  fact  one  of  the  wonders  of  the 
world.  Imagine  a  line  of  hills,  running  from  far 
inland  down  to  the  coast,  and  all  along  these  heights, 
as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  this  huge  wall  '  going  down 
the  side  of  one  hill,  up  the  next,  over  its  summit  and 
down  the  other  side  again,  then  at  the  end  coming  finally 
down  and  plunging  right  into  the  sea,  till  the  waves 
washed  the  end  of  it.'  And  such  a  wall  too :  '  a 
regular  castle  wall,  such  as  they  built  in  the  Middle 
Ages  round  their  strongest  castles,  thirty  or  forty  feet 
high,  of  solid  stone,  and  fifteen  feet  or  so  thick,  wide 
enough  for  two  carriages  to  drive  abreast  on  it,  with 
towers  every  few  hundred  yards.'  At  first  sight  it 
seemed  to  Younghusband  almost  more  wonderful  than 
the  Pyramids  of  Egypt,  and  it  certainly  surpasses  all 
that  is  left  of  the  Roman  Wall  in  England.  But  the 
race  that  built  the  Chinese  Wall  were  never  able  to 
back  it  with  troops  of  a  courage  and  discipline  like 


184    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

that  of  the  Roman  legions  :  they  had  not  even  the  power 
or  the  resources  to  finish  their  gigantic  work  in  a  style 
worthy  of  its  beginning.  By  the  time  it  reached  the 
desert  it  had  become  a  mere  pretence,  a  bogey  rather 
than  a  fortification.  Younghusband  describes  it  here 
as  only  twenty  feet  high,  made  of  mud,  with  mud-built 
towers  at  intervals  of  half  a  mile  :  crumbling  to  pieces 
and  with  large  gaps  in  it.  The  gate  was  of  rough  wood, 
with  two  old  guns  fastened  on  to  a  piece  of  timber. 
All  this  is  quite  what  might  be  expected  from  the 
Chinese :  they  can  plan,  but  they  cannot  finish  or 
preserve.  At  Shan-hai-Kuan  they  had  modern  forts 
armed  with  Krupp  guns,  and  provided  with  a  German 
non-commissioned  officer  as  instructor  ;  but  he  could 
not  persuade  them  to  look  after  the  mechanism  of  these 
highly  finished  guns,  which,  as  he  told  Younghusband, 
were  perishing  for  want  of  care. 

On  April  10  the  little  expedition  started  again  from 
Kalgan,  supplied  with  carters  and  stores.  They  left 
the  great  Peking-to-Siberia  caravan  route  and  ascended 
the  broad  valley  of  the  Yang-ho,  passed  finally  through 
the  Great  Wall,  and  entered  what  Marco  Polo  calls  ■ 
'  the  land  of  Gog  and  Magog.'  On  the  morning  of  the 
14th  they  emerged  on  to  the  vast  grassy  plain  of  Mon- 
golia. It  was  just  a  rolling  sea  of  grass,  without  islands 
or  shores  in  any  direction  :  only  here  and  there  far- 
away groups  of  small  dots  could  be  seen,  which  when 
at  last  approached  were  found  to  be  herds  of  camels 
and  cattle.  There  were  deer  too,  in  small  herds  ;  geese 
and  duck  passed  overhead,  and  larks  rose  and  fell, 
singing  as  in  England  on  the  morning  air.  In  this 
immense  plain  the  only  human  habitations  are  the 
yurts  or  felt    tents  of  the  Mongols  :    very  clean  and 


il^^S^S?3jpP 


3P-f    0    B    B    B    > 

^ini    ■    ■    " 

^  '    '    -|    ■    ■     ■    SIB 


'  He  passed  through  the  inner  branch  of  the  Great  Wall. 


186    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

neat  dwellings,  dome-shaped,  with  a  central  fireplace 
and  over  it  a  latticed  hole  in  the  roof  :  boxes  and 
cupboards  all  round  the  sides,  and  at  one  end  some  vases 
and  images  of  Buddha.  The  comfort  of  these  tents  and 
the  cream  he  got  there  charmed  Younghusband,  and 
he  loved  the  vast  open  country  and  the  wild  animals. 
'  Altogether,'  he  says,  '  this  was  one  of  those  bright 
days  which  throw  all  the  hardships  of  travel  far  away 
into  the  shade  and  make  the  traveller  feel  that  the 
net  result  of  all  is  the  highest  enjoyment.  The  shadows 
have  only  served  to  show  up  the  light  and  bring  out 
more  clearly  the  attractions  of  a  free  roving  life.' 

3.  Across  the  Great  Desert  of  Gobi 

On  April  17  Younghusband  reached  Kwei-hwa- 
Cheng,  and  began  his  preparations  for  crossing  the 
desert  to  Hami.  These  consisted  mainly  in  engaging 
a  guide  and  eight  camels,  and  fixing  an  auspicious 
day  for  the  start.  The  Chinese  Almanac  was  unfavour- 
able to  the  23rd,  24th,  or  25th,  but  the  26th  was  at  last 
decided  on  as  a  thoroughly  fortunate  day.  Young- 
husband  said  good-bye  to  his  European  friends  and 
launched  himself  upon  the  Gobi  with  only  three  com- 
panions ;  there  should  have  been  four,  but  Chang- 
san,  the  interpreter,  could  not  face  the  desert  when  the 
moment  came.  The  three  were  as  follows  :  first  the 
guide  and  camel-man,  '  a  doubled-up  little  man,  whose 
eyes  were  not  generally  visible,  though  they  sometimes 
beamed  out  from  behind  his  wrinkles  and  pierced 
one  like  a  gimlet.  He  was  a  wonderful  man — the  way 
in  which  he  remembered  where  the  wells  were,  at  each 
march  in  the  desert,  was  simply  marvellous.  He  would 
be  fast  asleep  on  the  back  of  a  camel,  leaning  right  over 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND  187 

with  his  head  resting  on  the  camel's  hump,  or  dangling 
about  beside  it,  when  he  would  suddenly  wake  up, 
look  first  at  the  stars,  by  which  he  could  tell  the  time 
to  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  then  at  as  much  of  the 
country  as  he  could  see  in  the  dark.  After  a  time  he 
would  turn  the  camel  off  the  track  a  little,  and  sure 
enough  we  would  find  ourselves  at  a  well.' 

Then  there  was  a  Mongol  assistant,  by  name  Ma- 
te-la, '  a  careless  good-natured  fellow,  always  whistling 
or  singing,  and  bursting  out  into  roars  of  laughter, 
especially  at  any  little  mishap.'  He  had  to  work 
prodigiously  hard  :  to  walk  the  whole  march,  leading 
the  first  camel,  then  to  unload,  pitch  tents,  and  scour 
the  country  for  fuel,  sleep  among  the  camels  and  take 
them  out  at  dawn  to  graze,  snatch  a  meal  himself, 
round  up  and  drive  in  the  camels  again,  load  up  and 
start.  He  refused  an  offer  of  a  mount,  because  he  said 
the  guide  would  give  him  no  wages  if  he  rode. 

The  third  was  the  Chinese  '  boy,'  Liu-san  ;  the  only 
one  who  knew  a  few  words  of  English.  At  first  Young- 
husband,  not  knowing  how  far  he  could  trust  him, 
gave  him  a  revolver  to  inspire  awe  in  the  natives,  but 
without  cartridges  ;  afterwards  he  loaded  it  for  him 
and  told  him  that  he  had  the  most  complete  confidence 
in  him.  The  plan  answered  well ;  Liu-san  showed  the 
revolver  to  everyone  he  met  and  told  them  that  though 
he  himself  could  only  kill  about  twenty  at  a  time,  his 
master  was  bristling  all  over  with  much  more  deadly 
instruments.  He  really  did  believe  in  Younghusband, 
in  a  way  of  his  own  :  '  I  think  master  belong  big  gentle- 
man :  no  belong  small  man.'  He  meant  that  his 
master  was  a  great  man,  though  crazy  enough  to 
wander  the  desert  instead  of  staying  at  home  ;    and 


188    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

he  used  to  add,  '  I  think  master  got  big  heart :  Chinese 
mandarin  no  do  this.'  And  there  he  was  entirely 
right. 

This  little  caravan  of  four  men  and  eight  camels 


'  Ma-te-la  had  to  walk,  leading  the  first  camel.' 

began  by  plodding  for  fourteen  days  through  an 
undulating  country  dotted  with  Mongol  temples  and 
tombs.  On  May  7  they  emerged  on  to  an  extensive 
plain,  and  on  the  8th  they  met  for  the  first  and  only 
time  a  caravan  coming  from  the  West.  It  was  sixty 
days  out  from  Guchcn  ;  the  150  camels  were  mostly 
unladen,  but  several  carried  boxes  of  silver.     After  this 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND  189 

the  route  lay  by  a  spur  of  volcanic  hills  ;  the  country 
became  more  and  more  barren,  streams  disappeared 
and  water  could  only  be  got  from  water-holes  dug  by 
former  travellers  in  the  waste.  The  plain  seemed  to 
be  infinitely  vast,  and  the  tiny  caravan  to  have  no 
chance  of  ever  getting  across  it. 

The  travellers  usually  started  about  5  p.m.  and 
marched  until  midnight,  so  as  to  avoid  the  heat  of 
the  day.  During  these  long  and  dreary  stages,  Young- 
husband  on  his  slow  silent  camel  managed  to  read  and 
even  to  write  ;  but  after  sunset  this  was  no  longer 
possible — the  march  went  on  by  starlight  until  the 
guide  gave  the  signal  to  halt,  and  the  camels  sighed 
with  relief  as  they  sank  to  the  ground.  For  ten  whole 
weeks  this  monotonous  routine  went  on  ;  the  saving 
point  was  the  beauty  of  the  nights,  for  the  stars  shone 
with  a  brilliance  such  as  Younghusband  had  never 
seen,  even  in  the  Himalayas,  and  the  Milky  Way  was 
like  a  bright  phosphorescent  cloud.  The  days  were 
often  disagreeable,  with  winds  and  heavy  rain. 

On  May  20  and  21  Younghusband  passed  through 
the  district  known  as  the  Galpin  Gobi,  and  crossed  the 
track  of  the  traveller  Prjevalsky,  who  wrote  of  it,  '  This 
desert  is  so  terrible  that  in  comparison  with  it  the 
deserts  of  Northern  Tibet  may  be  called  fruitful.' 
But  Younghusband  got  safely  through,  and  reached 
the  Bortson  Well  on  the  22nd.  That  evening  one  of 
his  camels  broke  loose,  threw  its  load  (luckily),  and 
bolted  into  the  darkness  ;  but  among  the  Hurku  hills 
he  was  able  to  buy  two  fresh  ones  from  a  Mongol  yurt. 
On  the  23rd  he  was  overtaken  and  passed  by  a  caravan 
of  140  camels,  carrying  clothes,  boots,  and  rifles  to 
Guchen. 


190    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

On  June  3  a  terrific  dust-storm  blew  up  suddenly 
from  the  west,  and  the  travellers  had  to  dismount  and 
lie  at  full  length  behind  the  baggage.  Fortunately 
they  were  on  a  gravel  plain  with  no  sand  to  drift  over 
them  ;   but  the  small  pebbles  were  driven  hard  against 


'  Liu-san  showed  the  revolver  to  everyone  he  met.' 


them  and  hurt  them  considerably.  Two  days  after- 
wards they  reached  the  sandhills,  a  most  remarkable 
range  called  Hun-kua-ling,  forty  miles  in  length,  a  heap 
of  white  fantastically  shaped  hills  rising  to  900  feet, 
and  without  a  trace  of  vegetation  upon  them.  Beyond 
lay  another  sand  range  between  two  ranges  of  rock  ; 
the  plain  below  was  covered  with  tamarisk  bushes,  but 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND         191 

their  roots  were  all  laid  bare  by  the  wind,  which  '  seemed 
to  have  fought  with  and  rent  the  very  surface  of  the 
land,  and  the  scene  is  one  of  indescribable  confusion.' 

On  June  8,  towards  dark,  after  passing  through  the 
sandhills,  the  caravan  was  approaching  another  low 
range  of  hills,  when  the  guide  halted  and  advised 
Younghusband  to  get  out  his  revolver,  as  these  hills 
were  a  favourite  resort  of  robbers.  The  advance  was 
accordingly  continued  in  fighting  formation  :  Young- 
husband  went  first,  on  foot,  with  revolver  in  hand  ; 
the  leading  camel  followed  with  his  bell  taken  off,  and 
the  flanks  were  protected  by  the  guide  and  Liu-san, 
who  was  heavily  armed  with  a  tent-pole.  It  was  now 
quite  dark  and  nothing  could  be  seen  but  the  dark 
outline  of  the  hills  against  the  sky,  and  not  even  the 
tingle-tingle  of  the  familiar  bell  broke  the  death-like 
silence  of  the  desert.  When  the  range  was  actually 
reached,  the  guide  again  halted  ;  the  robbers,  he  said, 
had  a  nasty  habit  of  rolling  big  stones  down  upon 
caravans  going  through  the  pass.  So  the  travellers 
lay  down  in  their  sheepskins  till  daylight,  taking  it 
in  turns  to  watch.  The  Mongol  Ma-te-la  said  he  had 
seen  a  horseman  riding  to  the  hill  in  the  dusk,  and 
Liu-san  fired  twice  at  others,  who  were  perhaps 
imaginary  ;  but  nothing  happened,  and  at  3.30  they 
advanced  again,  still  with  arms  in  hand,  but  without 
seeing  any  sign  of  an  attack. 

On  the  top  of  each  hill  was  a  cairn  of  stones,  and  by 
the  dry  bed  of  a  river  further  on  was  a  very  large  cairn 
and  a  lot  of  smaller  ones,  marking  the  place  of  a  raid 
five  years  back,  when  a  big  caravan  had  been  over- 
whelmed. All  the  silver  was  carried  off,  nine  men 
were  killed,  and  the  rest  were  left  to  make  their  way 


192    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

across  the  desert  on  foot.  The  Mongols  sighed  with 
relief  when  they  came  to  the  end  of  this  hilly  country ; 
but  when  a  water-hole  was  reached  at  dusk  the  same 
armed  and  silent  performance  had  to  be  gone  through 
again.  Beyond  this  was  an  open  plain,  where  at 
midnight  the  camp  was  pitched  in  safety.  There  was 
no  water  within  twelve  miles,  so  Younghusband  opened 
a  bottle  of  sherry — one  of  two  which  he  had  brought 
on  purpose  for  the  worst  part  of  the  Gobi.  He  says 
that  he  felt  like  a  regular  tippler  in  the  delight  with 
which  he  heard  the  pop  of  the  cork  and  saw  the  wine 
gurgling  out  into  the  glass. 

For  a  week  after  this  the  route  lay  within  sight 
of  the  Altai  mountains,  a  range  9,000  feet  high  with 
new  fallen  snow  on  their  summits.  On  the  17th  the 
travellers  emerged  once  more  from  the  hills  on  to  another 
great  plain,  where  they  saw  a  number  of  wild  asses,  or 
horses  of  an  ass-like  species,  with  large  heads  and  ears, 
and  long  thin  tails  like  a  mule's  or  donkey's.  On 
the  evening  of  the  18th  the  camels  got  completely 
bogged  and  it  took  a  whole  day  to  recover  and  rest 
them. 

One  evening  after  this  Ma-te-la  was  suddenly  seen 
to  dash  on  ahead  at  a  great  pace  till  he  became  a  mere 
dot  in  the  distance.  Nine  hours  after  the  caravan 
reached  a  stretch  of  grass  by  a  stream,  where  four  tents 
were  standing  :  and  there  was  Ma-te-la,  in  his  own 
home.  He  had  served  the  guide  for  two  years,  but 
the  old  screw  only  paid  him  15  taels  (£3  15*.),  which 
came  to  about  a  penny  a  day.  There  would  seem  to  be 
room  for  a  trade  union  in  the  Gobi  Desert ! 

On  June  23  Younghusband  reached  the  oasis  of 
Ya-hu,  and  on  the  25th  he  camped  at  Ulu-Khutun, 


FRANCIS  YOIJNGHUSBAND  198 

where  the  road  to  Guchen  branches  off.  The  next  day- 
was  a  memorable  one  :  he  had  halted  by  a  spring,  and 
climbed  a  hill  to  get  a  look  round  ;  there  were  plenty  of 
soft  clouds  about,  and  at  first  they  were  all  that  he 
saw.  Then  suddenly  his  eye  rested  on  something 
only  just  distinguishable  from  the  clouds  ;  in  a  moment 
he  had  out  his  telescope,  and  there  in  the  far  distance 
was  a  great  snowy  range  of  mountains,  the  real  Tian- 
Shan,  or  Heavenly  Mountains,  as  the  Chinese  call 
them.  '  My  delight,'  he  says,  '  was  unbounded,  for 
they  marked  the  end  of  my  long  desert  journey.' 

But  he  was  not  nearly  there  yet,  and  the  very  next 
march  was  the  most  trying  of  the  whole  journey.  He 
had  to  cross  that  part  of  the  Gobi  which  is  called  the 
Desert  of  Zungaria,  the  most  sterile  of  all.  There  was 
no  path,  no  water,  no  fuel,  no  grass,  absolutely  nothing 
but  gravel,  so  that  it  was  of  no  use  pitching  camp. 
The  ground  was  gradually  descending  to  a  very  low 
level,  the  sun  was  scorching,  and  the  wind  hotter  and 
hotter,  until  the  travellers  shrank  from  it  as  from  the 
blast  of  a  furnace.  There  was  nothing  to  be  done  but 
to  go  on,  and  on  they  went  for  nearly  twenty-eight 
hours.  In  that  time  they  had  done  seventy  miles  from 
camp  to  camp,  and  had  come  down  nearly  4,000  feet. 
Then  at  last  they  came  to  a  kind  of  green  park,  with 
trees  and  long  coarse  grass.  But  even  in  this  they 
could  not  sleep  for  the  stifling  heat  and  the  plague  of 
sandflies.  '  That,'  says  Younghusband,  '  was  the  most 
despairing  time  of  my  whole  journey,  and  many  times 
that  night  I  accused  myself  of  being  the  greatest  fool 
yet  created,  and  swore  I  would  never  go  wandering 
about  the  waste  places  of  the  earth  again.'  But  then 
came  the  first  glimmer  of  dawn,  and  he  saw  again  the 


194    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

snowy    summits    of    the   Heavenly   Mountains    rising 
above  him. 

He  took  courage  and  plodded  on,  crossing  the  Tian- 
Shan  at  last  at  a  height  of  8,000  feet.  The  last  mile  or 
two  of  the  pass  was  over  soft  green  turf,  and  near  the 
top  there  was  a  mass  of  fl-owers,  chiefly  forget-me-nots, 
a  sight  long  to  be  remembered  after  the  dreary  gravel 
slopes  of  the  Gobi  Desert.  And  down  the  other  side 
he  pitched  camp  on  a  little  grassy  plot  near  a  stream 
of  cold  clear  water  and  under  a  small  grove  of  trees. 
It  was  a  perfect  paradise  ;  but  what  struck  him  most 
was  the  singing  of  the  birds  and  the  drone  of  the  insects, 
for  in  the  Gobi  there  was  always  a  death-like  silence. 

On  July  22  he  passed  Ching-Cheng,  a  small  square- 
walled  town  standing  in  wheat  fields,  and  then,  after 
one  more  stretch  of  desert,  Hami  was  at  last  before 
him.  At  11  A.M.  on  July  24  he  reached  an  inn,  and 
with  unspeakable  relief  dismounted  from  his  camel  for 
the  last  time.  He  had  done  the  1,255  miles  of  desert 
from  Kwei-hwa-Cheng  in  just  seventy  days,  in  the  last 
seven  of  which  he  had  travelled  224  miles,  including 
the  passage  of  the  burning  Desert  of  Zungaria  and  the 
crossing  of  the  Heavenly  Mountains. 

4.  To  Kashgar  and  Yarkand 

Hami  is  a  small  town  of  only  five  or  six  thousand 
inhabitants,  but  it  is  a  considerable  trading  centre, 
where  Chinese,  Mongols,  Kalmaks,  Turkis,  and  men  of 
other  nationalities  meet  together,  coming  in  with  large 
heavy  travelling  carts  and  strings  of  camels.  Young- 
husband  stayed  here  for  four  days,  and  made  a  new 
arrangement  for  his  next  stage.  Camels  being  no  longer 
needed,  he  resolved  to  go  by  cart  this  time,  and  in  order 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND         195 

to  get  along  quickly  without  having  to  be  perpetually 
urging  on  the  servants,  he  made  a  contract  with  Liu- 
san.  By  this  it  was  agreed  that  he  himself  was  to  be 
regarded  as  a  piece  of  merchandise,  to  be  delivered 
baggage  and  all  at  Kashgar  within  forty  days.  Liu-san 
was  to  be  entirely  responsible,  and  was  to  be  paid 
70  taels  (about  £17  10s.)  before  starting,  and  30  taels 
more  if  he  reached  Kashgar  in  the  time.  Also  he  was 
to  receive  two  taels  extra  for  every  day  he  was  in 
advance  of  time,  and  to  lose  two  taels  for  every  day 
over  the  forty. 

This  arrangement  worked  excellently.  *  I  became 
an  impassive  log,'  says  Younghusband,  '  and  enjoyed 
myself  immensely.  It  was  quite  a  new  sensation  to  be 
able  to  lie  lazily  in  bed  while  breakfast  was  being  got 
ready  ;  at  the  end  of  breakfast  to  find  everything 
prepared  for  the  start ;  and  all  the  way  through  to 
have  an  enthusiastic  and  energetic  servant  constantly 
urging  me  to  go  on  further  and  quicker.'  The  cart 
was  a  large  covered  one,  called  an  araha,  with  only 
one  pair  of  very  high  wheels  ;  it  was  drawn  by  two 
mules  and  two  ponies,  one  in  the  shafts  and  three 
tandem  fashion  in  front.  It  carried  2000  lbs.  of 
baggage  and  supplies,  besides  Liu-san,  while  Young- 
husband  rode  a  pony  most  of  the  way. 

The  start  was  made  on  July  8  and  was  rather 
depressing,  for  the  country  seemed  half  dead — there 
were  many  ruined  houses  in  the  fields  and  hardly  any 
people  working.  On  the  9th  the  travellers  reached  a 
village  with  four  inns ;  but  the  rooms  were  all  occupied 
by  fleas,  and  Younghusband  slept  in  the  cart.  Another 
inn,  on  the  11th,  was  full  of  soldiers,  who  were  civil 
when  they  heard  he  belonged  to  '  the  great  English 


196  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

nation.'  In  that  country  they  only  know  the  names 
of  three  nations — the  English,  French,  and  Russian  ; 
and  ours  they  always  speak  of  as  '  the  great  English 
nation.' 

On  July  13  the  travellers  passed  through  a  narrow 
and  precipitous  gorge,  between  cliffs  six  or  seven  hundred 
feet  high.  After  this  the  road  forked,  and  they  thought 
they  had  lost  their  way.  They  halted  for  the  night, 
and  at  dawn  found  themselves  heading  right,  but  the 
cart  got  stuck  in  a  hole  for  two  hours.  The  next  night 
they  lost  the  track  again  and  went  wandering  round 
the  country  till  1.30  a.m.,  when  they  reached  the  gate 
of  a  town,  Pi-chan,  but  found  it  shut.  The  next  night, 
at  Liang-ming-Chang,  they  slept  on  the  ground  in  the 
inn  yard,  as  it  was  too  hot  even  in  the  cart. 

Fourteen  miles  further  they  descended  another 
valley  between  verj^  steep  hills,  composed  entirely  of 
clay  and  absolutely  barren.  Here  were  the  remains 
of  many  houses,  destroyed  by  landslips.  Beyond  this 
gorge  they  came  to  open  desert — a  very  curious  desert, 
for  it  was  covered  with  hundreds  of  wells  :  they  were 
dug  at  intervals  of  twenty  yards  in  long  lines,  each  line 
a  couple  of  miles  in  length.  The  wells  were  not  round 
but  oblong,  about  3  feet  broad  and  7  or  8  feet  long  ; 
one  which  Younghusband  examined  was  110  feet  deep. 
Liu-san  declared  that  they  had  been  dug  by  a  Chinese 
army  besieging  the  town  of  Turfan,  but  Younghusband 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  they  were  a  means  of 
irrigation  and  intended  to  lead  the  underground  water 
down  by  stages  to  the  lower  part  of  the  country. 

He  reached  Turfan  on  the  17th,  and  dismounted 
at  a  shop  where  there  was  a  fine-looking  man  who 
spoke   to   him   in   Russian,    and   shook   hands.     In   a 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND         197 

courtyard  were  spread  some  fine  carpets,  on  which  sat 
men  in  Turk  dress.  But  no  one  spoke  any  language 
that  Younghusband  knew.  Suddenly  he  overheard 
the  word  '  Hindustani.'  He  said  at  once  '  Hindustani 
zaban  bol  sakta  '  ('  I  can  speak  Hindustani '),  and  they 
sent  off  for  another  man,  an  Afghan  merchant  who 
had  travelled  through  a  great  part  of  India.  He  came 
immediately  and  had  a  long  talk  with  Younghusband, 
explaining  that  the  merchants  were  Andijanis,  and 
the  whole  trade  of  the  place  was  silk-making.  Then 
tea  was  brought ;  it  was  Chinese,  but  Indian  tea  could 
also  be  bought  in  the  town. 

After  this  Younghusband  walked  about  to  see  the 
shops,  and  again  chanced  upon  a  man  who  spoke 
Hindustani.  This  was  an  Arab  Hajji  or  pilgrim 
from  Mecca  :  he  had  travelled  through  India,  Afghani- 
stan, Persia,  Egypt,  Turkey,  and  Bokhara,  and  was 
going  next  '  wherever  Fate  led  him.'  Some  Turks, 
seeing  the  two  travellers  standing  together  and  talking 
so  keenly,  very  politely  asked  them  over  to  a  shop 
where  there  was  a  seat,  and  they  then  had  a  long  talk. 
The  Hajji  had  been  at  Herat  the  year  before  (1886)  ; 
he  pointed  his  two  forefingers  at  each  other  and  brought 
them  together  till  they  nearly  touched — that,  he  said, 
was  how  the  English  and  Russians  were  then.  Next, 
he  let  his  forefingers  slip  past  each  other  and  lie  parallel — 
that,  he  said,  was  how  Russia  and  England  were  now. 
He  then  locked  his  two  forefingers  together,  and  said 
that  was  how  England  and  the  Amir  of  Afghanistan 
were.  Of  course  that  was  in  the  days  of  the  great 
Abdur  Rahman,  the  father  of  Habibullah  andNasrullah. 
The  Hajji  himself  seemed  to  have  a  high  opinion  of 
the  English,  and  explained  to  the  crowd  outside  who 


198  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAH. 

and  what  Younghusband  was.  Finally  the  courteous 
Turk  provided  a  second  tea  ;  but  the  Arab  for  some 
reason  would  not  take  any. 

At  Karashar,  which  he  reached  on  July  24,  Young- 
husband  found  no  one  who  could  speak  Hindustani ; 
but  he  succeeded  in  buying  another  pony,  a  good  cob 
with  short  back  and  legs  and  enormous  quarters,  but 
with  pleasanter  paces  than  his  appearance  suggested. 
The  price  was  20  taels,  or  £5,  and  as  the  animal  was 
evidently  a  weight-carrier,  Younghusband  started  hope- 
fully in  the  evening.  But  in  crossing  a  swamp  not 
far  from  the  town  he  fell  mto  misfortunes.  Three 
times  the  cart  stuck  ;  the  first  time  it  took  three  hours 
to  get  it  out  of  the  bog,  with  the  aid  of  some  Turks  ; 
at  the  third  rut  the  animals  were  so  exhausted  that 
they  had  to  be  left  till  next  day.  In  the  morning  the 
Turks  tried  again,  and  were  successful ;  they  each 
received  a  reward  of  twenty -five  cents,  and  Young- 
husband also  presented  the  man  in  whose  house  he  had 
passed  the  night  with  some  tea,  sugar,  candles,  and 
matches.  The  Turk  salaamed  profusely  ;  his  old  wife 
also  appeared  and  bowed  very  gracefully,  after  which 
she  produced  a  tray  with  some  tea,  bread,  and  flowers. 
A  good  traveller  often  finds  charming  hosts. 

At  Aksu,  on  August  7,  Younghusband  engaged  a 
Pathan  guide  to  take  him  to  Kashgar  by  one  route, 
while  the  cart  went  by  another.  The  Pathan,  whose 
name  was  Ralunat-ula-Khan,  was  an  intelligent  and 
adventurous  fellow,  never  at  a  loss.  On  the  second 
night  out  he  billeted  Younghusband  in  a  Kirghiz  encamp- 
ment, where  he  found  himself  quartered  in  a  tent  with 
four  very  old  ladies,  one  of  whom  was  a  great -grand- 
mother,   and    the    youngest    a    grandmother.     They 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND         199 

examined  his  kit  with  great  interest,  and  when  he 
took  off  his  boots  they  spied  holes  in  his  socks,  whisked 
them  away  immediately,  and  mended  them.  After 
this  they  said  their  prayers — they  always  appeared  to 
be  praying.  They  all  dined  on  curds  and  milk  and  a 
little  bread  ;  then  after  saying  their  prayers  once  more 
they  made  up  four  beds,  pulled  a  felt  over  the  hole 
in  the  tent  roof,  and  everyone  slept  comfortably  till 
morning. 

Two  days  later  the  travellers  reached  an  encamp- 
ment of  six  tents  where  they  had  a  very  different  recep- 
tion. A  very  sarly  owner  agreed  to  take  them  in.  By 
the  tent  door  was  a  huge  fierce-looking  eagle,  tethered 
by  the  leg :  one  of  those  which  the  Kirghiz  keep  for 
hawking,  and  with  which  they  capture  even  small 
deer.  Younghusband  was  relieved  when  he  got  past 
this  savage  doorkeeper  safely,  and  still  more  when  he 
left  it  and  its  surly  master  next  da>  .  But  the  next  camp 
was  even  more  dangerous,  and  when  morning  came  a 
crowd  of  Kirghiz  collected,  gesticulating  wildly  and 
refusing  to  let  Younghusband  pass  further  through 
their  country.  They  said  no  European  ever  had 
passed  through  it,  and  none  ever  should.  But  Rahmat- 
ula-Khan  managed  them  with  great  skill :  he  smiled 
and  smiled  and  kept  on  talking  to  them  very  quietly, 
first  letting  them  exhaust  their  energy  and  then  arguing 
himself.  He  said  his  master  had  come  direct  from 
Peking  with  a  passport  from  the  Emperor  of  China, 
so  that  if  anything  happened  to  him  they  would  have 
Chinese  soldiers  swarming  over  their  country.  Then 
more  cunningly  still  he  went  on  to  say  that  as  far  as 
he  was  concerned  it  was  a  matter  of  indifference 
whether  they  let  the  Englislmian  go  through  or  not  ; 


200  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

but  looking  at  the  question  from  an  outside  point  of 
view  it  certainly  seemed  wiser  to  pass  him  on  to  the 
next  place,  and  so  end  the  matter.  Gradually  the 
Kirghiz  allowed  themselves  to  be  persuaded  by  Rahmat- 
ula-Khan,  and  Younghusband  went  on  his  way  in 
peace. 

He  now  marched  hard  to  get  out  of  their  country, 
and  the  same  day  he  reached  the  great  central  plain  of 
Turkestan  again.  From  there  he  saw  a  sight  which 
at  first  struck  him  dumb  with  wonder — a  line  of  snowy 
peaks  apparently  suspended  in  mid-air.  They  were 
the  Pamir  Mountains,  one  of  them  25,000  feet  high 
and  another  22,000  feet ;  but  they  were  so  distant, 
and  the  lower  atmosphere  was  so  laden  with  dust,  that 
their  bases  were  hidden  and  only  their  snowy  tops  were 
visible.  They  were  a  welcome  landmark  to  Young- 
husband,  for  it  was  on  this  side  of  them  that  he  would 
turn  off  to  the  left  for  India. 

The  next  day — the  fortieth — he  reached  Kashgar 
exactly  up  to  time,  and  was  at  last  on  the  fringes  of 
civilisation.  There  he  had  plenty  of  talk  with  the 
Russian  consul,  with  the  Afghan  Aksakal  or  trade 
representative — who  knew  all  about  India,  and  talked 
much  of  different  kinds  of  rifles  and  revolvers — and 
with  some  Afghan  merchants  who  had  fought  against 
us  in  past  wars,  and  greatly  admired  '  Ropert ' — as 
they  called  General  Lord  Roberts.  They  also  admired 
the  English  soldiers  for  being  '  able  to  fight  quite  as 
well  as  the  Afghans  '  !  Liu-san  now  arrived  with  the 
cart,  and  the  whole  party  started  again  for  Yarkand, 
which  they  reached  on  August  29.  Outside  the  town 
they  were  met  by  the  Kashmir  Aksakal  and  a  number 
of  Indian  traders  who  had  heard  that  an  English  officer 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND  201 

was  coming.  '  An  Englishman,'  says  Younghusband, 
'  always  gets  a  warm  welcome  from  natives  of  India 
in  foreign  countries.'  In  the  best  Chinese  inn  the  chief 
room  had  been  made  ready  for  him  :  carpets,  chairs, 
and  tables  had  been  brought  from  the  Aksakal's  own 
house,  and  the  merchants  kept  sending  in  large  plates 
and  baskets  piled  with  fruit. 

On  entering  the  town  Younghusband  received  a 
letter  from  Colonel  Bell,  written  on  the  Karakoram 
Pass,  and  advising  him  instead  of  following  him  along 
the  well-known  and  dull  route,  to  try  the  direct  and 
unexplored  road  by  the  Mustagh  Pass  and  through 
Baltistan  and  Kashmir.  This  suggestion  delighted 
Younghusband,  for  it  showed  him  how  to  add  to  his 
journey  a  finish  which  would  be  quite  new  and  original. 
Accordingly,  after  calling  on  the  Chinese  Amban,  or 
Governor,  he  began  his  preparations,  in  which  he  was 
cordially  helped  by  the  merchants,  who  gave  him  a 
sumptuous  feast  in  a  fruit  garden,  and  formed  them- 
selves into  a  sort  of  committee  for  providing  him  with 
guides  and  ponies. 

It  was  fitting  that  here  in  Yarkand  so  warm  a 
welcome  should  be  waiting  for  Younghusband,  for 
his  uncle,  Robert  Shaw,  had  in  his  time  been  the  first 
of  all  Englishmen  to  visit  the  place.  He  had  come 
there  disguised  as  a  merchant  with  a  caravan,  and  had 
been  joined  by  another  famous  explorer,  Hayward, 
who  afterwards  fell  among  thieves  in  the  Yassin  Valley 
and  was  murdered  at  sunrise  next  morning.  They 
both  succeeded  in  getting  back  from  Yarkand  to  India, 
and  Shaw  was  afterwards  sent  there  by  the  Govern- 
ment as  Political  Agent.  His  house  was  now  no  longer 
standing,  but  the  people  had  been  devoted  to    him,  and 


202    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

Younghusband  was  refreshed  once  more  by  the  memory 
of  the  man  to  whom  he  owed  the  greatest  impulse  of 
his  Hfe. 

5.  The  Mustagh  Pass 

Younghusband  left  Yarkand  on  September  8.  The 
party  with  which  he  intended  to  cross  the  Himalayas 
by  one  of  the  highest  and  most  difficult  passes  in  the 
world  was  a  large  one  for  a  serious  climb.  First,  there 
were  thirteen  ponies,  with  four  Ladaki  servants.  One 
of  these,  named  Drogpa,  had  been  specially  sent 
back  by  Colonel  Bell,  and  was  put  in  charge  of  the 
whole  caravan.  Then  there  were  five  Balti  carriers  ; 
three  of  these  had  been  taken  by  robbers  and  sold  for 
slaves  in  Yarkand.  Younghusband  had  bought  them 
and  set  them  free.  Another  of  them  was  their  head- 
man, Wali,  who  was  to  act  as  guide  :  a  short,  thickset 
man  with  an  iron  grey  beard,  a  prominent  rather 
hooked  nose,  and  an  expression  of  determination  and 
proud  indifference  to  danger.  '  For  him,'  says  Young- 
husband, '  I  entertain  a  regard  such  as  I  do  for  few 
other  men  ' ;  and  he  says  this  with  good  reason.  But 
for  Wali  the  Mustagh  Pass  would  never  have  been 
crossed.  The  last  of  the  party  was  Liu-san,  the  Chinese 
boy. 

The  expedition  began  by  marching  down  the  Yarkand 
River  till  they  came  to  a  side  valley  with  a  smaller 
river  called  the  Surakwat.  Some  way  up  this,  at  about 
15,000  feet,  they  crossed  an  outlying  ridge  and  saw 
the  Himalayas  right  before  them — tier  after  tier  of 
stately  mountains,  whose  peaks  reached  25,000,  26,000, 
and  in  one  supreme  case  28,000  feet.  Below  them 
lay  the  valley  of  the  Oprang  River,  and  when  they  had 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND         203 

gone  down  this  and  turned  a  corner  they  looked  up 
and  found  themselves  right  under  a  peak  of  appalling 
height,  and  in  shape  an  almost  perfect  cone.  It  was 
the  famous  K.2,  second  only  to  Mount  Everest,  and 
here  on  the  northern  side,  where  it  is  literally  clothed 
in  glacier,  there  must  have  been  from  14,000  to  16,000 
feet  of  solid  ice,  going  straight  up  in  front  of  the 
travellers. 

After  getting  the  ponies  with  great  difficulty  and 
pain  over  a  part  of  the  main  glacier,  Younghusband 
camped  there  for  the  night,  in  the  midst  of  a  sea  of  ice, 
and  held  a  council  of  war  to  decide  which  pass  he  should 
attack,  for  there  were  two,  the  Old  Mustagh  and  the 
New  Mustagh.  No  European  had  ever  crossed  either 
of  them,  and  even  the  natives  had  long  abandoned 
the  Old  pass,  because  of  the  ice  which  had  pushed 
forward  upon  it.  But  on  reconnoitring  the  New  pass 
that  was  found  to  be  hopeless  for  ponies,  so  the  guide 
suggested  that  they  should  leave  the  ponies  behind 
and  try  the  Old  Mustagh  on  foot.  This  was  a  very 
anxious  moment  for  Younghusband,  for  the  decision 
lay  with  him,  and  if  the  pass  proved  too  much  for  the 
climbers  they  would  have  to  march  back  180  miles 
through  the  mountains  with  only  three  or  four  days' 
supplies. 

He  determined  to  stake  everything  on  the  chance. 
The  ponies  were  left  in  charge  of  Liu-san  and  some  of 
the  older  men,  and  at  dawn,  after  a  breakfast  of  tea 
and  bread,  Younghusband,  Wali,  Drogpa,  and  the  rest 
started  up  the  pass.  It  took  six  hours  to  reach  the  top, 
and  then  they  found  themselves  looking  down  a  sheer 
precipice.  They  had  no  nailed  boots,  no  proper  boots 
at  all,  no  ice-axes,  and  no  Alpine  experience.     They 


204    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

were  within  an  inch  of  giving  up.  What  saved  them 
was  the  fact  that  Younghusband  held  his  tongue.  As 
he  looked  over  the  pass  in  silence  the  men  watched 
him,  and  imagining  that  an  Englishman  never  turned 
back  from  anything,  they  took  it  as  a  matter  of  course 
that  he  meant  to  go  on.  Wali  was  roped  and  went 
ahead,  cutting  steps  in  the  ice  with  a  pickaxe,  and 
the  rest  followed  with  their  soft  leather  boots  slithering 
and  sliming  on  the  wet  melting  surface.  The  position 
was  terrible  and  it  broke  poor  Drogpa's  nerve  :  he 
trembled  violently  and  stopped  short,  though  he  was 
a  hillman  born.  Younghusband  laughed  off  his  own 
dismay  and  told  Drogpa  to  go  to  the  ponies,  then 
took  the  rest  on.  On  a  very  bad  slope  one  man  fell, 
but  was  saved  by  clutching  the  rope  as  he  slid  past  at 
a  frightful  pace. 

At  last,  after  six  hours  of  this  work  on  rock  and  ice 
as  steep  as  the  roof  of  a  house,  and  with  hardly  any 
foothold  or  handhold,  Wali  got  the  remainder  of  the 
party  down  just  as  the  sun  set.  The  danger  was  over, 
and  success  assured.  '  Such  feelings  as  mine  were  now,' 
says  Younghusband,  '  cannot  be  described  in  words,  but 
they  are  known  to  everyone  who  has  had  his  heart  set 
on  one  great  object  and  has  accomplished  it.  I  took 
one  last  look  at  the  pass,  never  before  or  since  seen  by 
a  European,  and  then  we  started  away  down  the  glacier 
to  find  some  bare  spot  on  which  to  lay  our  rugs  and 
rest.' 

The  sun  had  now  set,  but  the  night  was  marvellously 
beautiful,  the  moon  nearly  full,  the  sky  cloudless,  and 
in  the  amphitheatre  of  snowy  mountains  not  one  speck 
of  anything  but  the  purest  white  was  visible.  The 
travellers  walked  dreamily  on,  and  presently  the  situa- 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND  205 

tion  took  a  more  comic  turn.     One  of  the  men  was 


'Saved  by  clutching  the  rope  as  he  slid  past.' 

missed  ;  they  went  back  and  found  him  fifteen  feet 
down  a  crevasse,  comfortably  wedged  in  by  the  load 
of   bedding   which   he   had   been   carrying.     He   was 


206  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

rescued  with  a  rope  and  ordered  to  walk  in  front.  He 
went  ahead  and  Younghusband  soon  detected  a  strong 
smell  of  brandy  coming  from  the  bedding.  He  tore 
open  the  bundle,  and  found  to  his  horror  that  his  one 
bottle  of  brandy,  given  him  by  Lady  Walsham  and 
carried  all  this  way  for  a  supreme  emergency,  was 
broken  to  pieces.  The  bedding  had  been  thrown  over 
the  pass  as  it  could  not  be  carried  down,  and  though 
the  bottle  was  packed  in  a  sheepskin  sleeping  bag,  it 
had  failed  to  survive  the  shock. 

Next  day  they  reached  the  village  of  Askoli,  and  a 
party  went  back  with  supplies  for  Liu-san  and  Drogpa  ; 
they  succeeded  in  getting  over  the  pass  again^  though 
with  three  men  badly  injured.  As  for  Younghusband, 
the  insatiable  explorer,  he  set  out  to  try  the  New 
Mustagh  pass  from  this  side ;  but  fortunately  his 
extravagant  ambition  proved  to  be  quite  unrealisable, 
so  he  went  on  with  his  journey  towards  India  through 
Baltistan.  When  he  came  into  Srinagar,  in  the  Valley 
of  Kashmir,  he  received  a  telegram  of  congratulation 
from  General  Roberts,  and  a  letter  and  a  box  of  cigars 
from  General  Chapman,  then  Quartermaster-General. 

After  one  day's  rest  he  hurried  on,  for  it  was 
November  2,  and  his  seven  months  were  all  but  up. 
Next  day  he  reached  Murree,  his  own  birthplace,  by 
three  marches  and  a  ten-mile  ride,  and  the  day  after 
he  drove  the  last  thirty-nine  miles  into  Rawal  Pindi, 
reaching  the  messhouse  of  his  regiment  on  November  4, 
exactly  as  he  had  hoped  to  do  when  he  left  Peking 
on  April  4.  Six  weeks  later  came  Liu-san,  to  whom 
had  been  due  in  no  small  degree  the  success  of  this 
unparalleled  journey. 

For  this  exploration,  begun  when  he  was  still  only 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND  207 

twenty-three,  Younghusband  was  in  1890  awarded  the 
Gold  Medal  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  and 
was  probably  the  youngest  traveller  who  ever  received 
that  coveted  distinction. 

6.  The  Mission  to  Tibet 

Younghusband  was  not  long  at  rest.  In  the  spring 
of  1889  the  exploring  spirit  again  moved  him  strongly. 
This  time  leave  was  refused  by  his  commanding  officer, 
and  the  disappointment  was  great.  He  did  not  know 
his  fortune  ;  he  could  not  guess  that  he  was  destined 
to  fourteen  years  of  training  for  an  adventure  of  the 
first  rank — an  undertaking  which  would  demand  every 
qualification  that  could  be  possessed  by  a  British  soldier, 
explorer,  and  statesman,  and  would  perhaps  outshine 
in  romance  every  feat  of  travel  and  discovery  achieved 
since  the  Elizabethan  age. 

The  training  was  arduous,  but  it  was  all  directly  to 
the  point.  It  began  when  the  Indian  Government 
sent  him  up  to  the  little  state  of  Hunza  or  Kanjut, 
on  the  north  of  Kashijir,  to  deal  with  a  chief  named 
Safder  Ali,  a  weak,  arrogant,  greedy  rascal  living 
beyond  a  tangle  of  passes  and  glaciers.  With  an 
escort  of  on'y  six  Gurkhas  and  his  own  five  wits 
Younghusband  brought  him  to  reason  and  returned 
in  safety.  This  success  led  to  another  :  he  was  com- 
missioned to  travel  round  the  whole  of  the  Pamirs, 
a  high  region  which  forms  a  sort  of  No  Man's  Land 
between  the  British,  Russian,  Chinese,  and  Afghan 
territories,  and  is  known  to  Asiatics  as  '  The  Roof  of 
the  World.'  Out  there  he  learned  all  about  the  bound- 
aries of  Empires  and  their  guards.  He  was  illegally 
detained  and  turned  out  of  his  route  by  a  Russian 


208    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

officer  with  a  force  of  Cossacks.  Having  no  escort 
himself,  he  had  to  be  pleasant ;  he  was  so  tactful  and 
good-humoured  that  his  captors  and  he  parted  the 
best  of  friends.  But  within  thirteen  days  he  had 
reported  them,  and  the  Russian  Ambassador  had  to 
offer  an  apology  for  their  mistake. 

For  four  years  after  this  his  work  was  in  Hunza 
and  Chitral ;  then  in  the  Transvaal  and  Rhodesia  ; 
then  in  Rajputana.  Li  1902  he  became  British 
Resident  in  Indore,  and  learned  the  government  of  a 
native  state.  At  last  in  1903  came  the  great  opportunity 
for  which  all  this  experience  had  been  the  preparation  : 
the  expedition  to  Tibet. 

Where  and  what  was  Tibet  ?  Not  many  people 
could  have  given  an  answer  of  any  value.  Tibet  was 
north  of  the  Himalayas,  but  it  was  both  an  unknown 
and  a  forbidden  land.  For  hundreds  of  years  the 
Tibetans  had  been  growing  more  and  more  determined 
to  admit  no  foreigners  to  their  country,  and  especially 
to  their  sacred  city  of  Lhasa.  Three  times  in  three 
centuries  the  Jesuits  had  made  their  way  in,  but  they 
had  always  been  expelled.  Three  Englishmen  had 
attempted  the  journey  between  the  years  1774  and 
1822,  but  only  one  of  them,  Thomas  Manning,  got  as 
far  as  Lhasa,  and  he  was  an  eccentric  gentleman  who 
brought  back  few  notes  of  any  value.  Two  more 
Jesuits  got  through  from  China  in  1846,  but  were  soon 
expelled  and  sent  back  to  China.  The  people  and 
traders  of  Tibet  were  friendly  enough,  but  the  Lamas 
or  priests  who  ruled  them  were  ignorant  men  afraid 
of  losing  their  own  influence  if  Lhasa  came  into  touch 
with  the  outside  world.  They  were  wily  Orientals, 
far  more  difficult  to  deal  with  than  all  the  soldiers 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND  209 

Tibet  could  muster,  and  Younghusband's  real  objective 
was  the  defeat  of  their  obstruction  and  ill-will.  His 
business  was  to  insist  on  negotiating  in  Lhasa  itself, 
and  to  make  a  treaty  there  which  should  not  be  a  treaty 
of  conquest,  but  a  basis  for  future  good  relations  between 
India  and  Tibet. 

The  two  countries  had  been  on  very  unsatisfactory 
terms  for  thirty  years  past.  Tibet  was  nominally 
under  the  suzerainty  or  overlordship  of  China,  but 
the  Tibetans  constantly  disobeyed  their  suzerain.  To 
our  people  they  were  insolent :  they  invaded  Indian 
territory,  broke  treaties,  pulled  up  boundary  pillars, 
and  obstructed  trade.  This  they  thought  they  could 
do  with  impunity  ;  they  relied  on  Russian  support, 
and  the  Indian  Government  after  many  years  of  for- 
bearance decided  that  the  time  had  come  when  the 
position  must  be  cleared  up.  Tibet  was  a  bad  neigh- 
bour, and  was  evidently  trying  to  make  mischief 
between  us  and  the  Russians.  The  Viceroy,  Lord 
Curzon,  in  May  1903  decided  to  send  an  armed  Mission 
to  open  direct  negotiations  with  the  Tibetan  Govern- 
ment, and  if  it  met  with  obstruction,  the  Mission  must 
be  moved  forward  to  Lhasa  itself.  The  Commissioner, 
or  political  head  of  the  Mission,  was  to  be  Major  Francis 
Younghusband,  with  Mr.  White  as  joint  commissioner. 
Colonel  Brandcr  in  command  of  the  troops,  and  Captain 
O'Connor  as  Intelligence  Officer.  And  thereupon  Major 
Younghusband  was  sent  for  from  his  Residency  at  Indore, 
promoted  to  Colonel,  asked  to  lunch  at  Simla  with  Lord 
Curzon  and  Lord  Kitchener,  given  his  instructions,  and 
ordered  to  proceed.  '  Here  indeed,'  he  wrote,  '  was  the 
chance  of  my  life.  The  thrill  of  adventure  again  ran 
through  my  veins.'     This  was  not  mere  exploring,  but 

r 


210    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

handling  independent  peoples,  in  the  service  of  the 
Empire,  and  he  had  the  immense  encouragement  of 
working  under  Lord  Curzon,  a  chief  who  knew  his  own 
mind  and  '  meant  to  see  the  thing  through.' 

B}'  July  1  the  Mission  had  assembled  at  Tangu,  only 
one  march  from  the  district  of  Giagong,  which  the 
Tibetans  claimed.  On  the  other  side  of  the  boundary 
wall  envoys  from  Lhasa  were  said  to  be  waiting,  and 
Younghusband  sent  forward  Mr.  White  and  Captain 
O'Connor  to  meet  with  them.  The  envoys,  however, 
turned  out  to  be  officials  of  no  high  rank,  and  their 
object  was  only  to  persuade  the  Mission  to  stay  on  the 
wrong  side  of  the  wall.  This  of  course  they  failed  to 
do.  Colonel  Younghusband  himself  came  up,  and 
rode  straight  through  on  July  18  to  Khamba  Jong,  a 
Tibetan  fort,  the  other  side  the  Kangra-la,  a  pass  17,000 
feet  in  height. 

Here  the  oriental  game  was  continued  :  he  was 
at  once  visited  by  the  Abbot  of  the  Tashi  Lumpo 
Monastery,  a  courteous,  kindly  old  gentleman,  who 
innocently  begged  him  to  send  back  his  troops,  or  at 
least  half  of  them.  But  the  Dalai  Lama,  the  ruler  of 
Tibet,  and  the  Chinese  Amban,  or  Resident,  had  already 
agreed  to  negotiate  at  Khamba  Jong,  so  Younghusband 
stayed  where  he  was  and  kept  his  two  hundred  men. 
The  Tibetan  force  by  this  time  numbered  thousands, 
and  was  preparing  to  block  the  road  at  successive 
points  of  vantage. 

The  Dalai  Lama  did  not  keep  his  word.  Young- 
husband waited  a  whole  month  in  vain,  and  then 
returned  to  Simla  for  further  orders.  On  November  6 
the  English  Government  sanctioned  the  advance  of 
the  Mission  to  Gyantse.     There  it  would  come  into 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND        211 

direct  touch  with  the  Tibetan  people,  who  were  friendly, 
in  spite  of  the  priestly  politics  of  the  Lamas  at  Lhasa. 
Gyantse  was  a  fortified  town,  and  the  hostility  of  the 
Lamas  was  undoubted,  so  the  British  force  was  to  be 
increased  to  a  battalion  of  Gurkhas,  four  companies  of 
Sikh  Pioneers,  Sappers  and  Miners,  with  four  guns  and 
two  maxims.  The  military  command  was  entrusted  to 
Brigadier-General  Macdonald,  an  experienced  engineer 
officer. 

Winter  had  now  come  on,  and  it  had  generally  been 
assumed  that  during  that  season  it  would  be  impossible 
to  take  troops  across  the  mountains.  But  Young- 
husband,  White,  Bretherton  and  O'Connor  had  had 
experience  of  Himalayan  passes  at  all  seasons  of  the 
year,  and  were  able  to  persuade  Lord  Curzon  and  Lord 
Kitchener  to  let  the  advance  be  made  even  in  the  depth 
of  winter.  The  risk  was  great,  and  as  it  turned  out 
fifty  degrees  of  frost  and  fearful  blizzards  were  en- 
countered. But  the  feat  was  accomplished,  and  it  has 
now  been  proved  for  all  time  that  even  the  Himalayas 
cannot  prevent  us  from  entering  Tibet  at  any  season 
of  the  year.  On  December  12  General  Macdonald 
marched  his  force  over  the  Jelap-la,  a  pass  14,000 
feet  high,  which  leads  from  Sikkim  into  the  Chumbi 
Valley,  a  kind  of  labyrinth  of  deep  forest  valleys. 
The  troops  who  had  been  left  at  Khamba  Jong  were 
to  come  across  by  another  pass  and  join  the  main 
force  a  little  further  on. 

The  Tibetans  met  this  new  advance  with  the  same 
tactics  as  before  :  they  sent  a  Tibetan  general  and  a 
Chinese  official  to  ask  Colonel  Younghusband  to  go 
back.  When  he  declined  they  asked  him  to  stay 
where  he  was  for  two  or  three  months.     He   replied 


212  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

that  they  had  wasted  enough  time  at  Khamba  Jong  : 
he  was  going  on,  but  peaceably  if  they  would  let  him. 
They  then  inquired  what  he  would  do  if  he  found  the 
gate  in  the  frontier  wall  closed  against  him.  He  replied 
that  he  would  blow  it  open. 

The  decisive  moment  had  come.  Next  morning 
the  Commissioner  rode  with  General  Macdonald  down 
the  wooded  gorge,  and  suddenly,  round  a  sharp  corner, 
found  a  solid  wall  stretching  right  across  the  valley. 
Then  once  more  began  the  usual  Tibetan  game,  which 
Younghusband  had  now  learned  to  understand  as  well 
as  his  opponents.  As  he  approached,  with  his  flanking 
troops  skirmishing  on  both  sides,  the  same  officials 
came  forward  and  asked  him  to  go  back  ;  but  he  noticed 
that  they  had  not  closed  the  gate.  The  advance 
guard  accordingly  rode  through,  and  exactly  as  the 
Commissioner  passed  under  the  gateway  the  local 
official  seized  his  bridle  and  made  an  ineffectual  protest. 
Then  on  the  other  side  of  the  wall  Younghusband 
gathered  together  all  the  Tibetan  crowd,  and  explained 
to  them  the  reasons  for  his  advance.  They  were  very 
good-humoured,  and  in  a  short  time  both  sides  were 
having  lunch  together.  The  Commissioner  was  filled 
with  hopes  of  a  peaceful  journey  and  settlement  ; 
but  there  he  was  wrong,  for  he  was  reckoning  without 
the  priesthood  of  Lhasa. 

7.  The  Road  to  Lhasa 

By  December  18  the  troops  from  Khamba  Jong 
had  joined  up,  and  General  Macdonald  with  a  flying 
column  of  795  men  started  up  the  Chumbi  Valley 
for  Phari,  the  highest  town  in  the  world,  where  there 
was   a   fort,   which   he  garrisoned.     He  then   returned 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND  213 

and  brought  up  the  Mission  on  January  4  in  bitter  cold 
weather.  They  were  met,  as  before,  by  three  monks 
and  a  general,  who  haughtily  demanded  the  withdrawal 
of  the  Mission.  The  local  people  were  more  friendly  ; 
but  even  they  thought  the  British  force  must  be  over- 
whelmed by  the  thousands  of  Tibetan  troops  waiting 
for  them  further  on.  Many  camp  followers  believed 
them  and  deserted. 

But  General  Macdonald  got  his  men  safely  over 
the  pass  below  the  great  sentinel  peak  of  Chumalhari, 
which  is  the  real  entrance  to  Tibet  from  Chumbi,  and 
after  marching  all  day  over  a  plateau  of  snow  they 
encamped  at  the  little  hamlet  of  Tuna,  a  desolate  spot 
where  Colonel  Younghusband  had  his  headquarters  for 
the  next  three  months.  It  was  here  that  he  played 
one  of  his  boldest  and  most  characteristic  strokes. 

The  Tibetan  leaders  had  once  more  asked  for  an 
interview,  and  after  some  boggling  they  said  they 
were  ready  to  negotiate  there,  at  Tuna.  Younghusband 
was  determined  to  force  their  hand  this  time,  and  find 
out  whether  any  good  could  be  done  without  going 
right  on  to  Lhasa.  He  meant  to  take  them  by  surprise, 
and  on  January  13  he  took  Captain  O'Connor  and 
Captain  Sawyer  with  him  and  rode  without  any  escort 
straight  into  the  Tibetan  camp  at  the  village  of  Guru. 
There  he  was  well  received  by  the  Tibetan  generals, 
but  when  they  took  him  into  the  room  where  the  three 
Lhasa  monks  were  seated,  these  Lamas  barely  saluted 
him  at  all,  and  refused  to  rise  from  their  cushions. 
In  that  one  instant  he  saw  clearly  where  the  obstruc- 
tion lay. 

In  the  discussion  which  followed  he  found  out  that 
mischief  was  being  made  by  a  Mongolian  who  was  a 


214  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

Russian  subject  with  the  name  of  Dorjieff,  also  that 
the  monks  were  fighting  to  keep  their  own  influence. 
They  were  inclined  to  stick  at  nothing  ;  and  when 
Younghusband  rose  to  go  they  looked  '  as  black  as 
devils '  and  shouted,  '  No,  you  won't  :  you'll  stop 
here.'  Suddenly  the  atmosphere  became  electric  ;  one 
of  the  generals  left  the  room,  trum.pets  sounded  out- 
side, and  attendants  closed  in  behind  the  three  officers. 
The  situation  was  saved  by  Younghusband's  calmness, 
by  Captain  O'Connor's  quiet  and  smiling  manner  of 
interpreting,  and  by  a  suggestion  from  one  of  the 
generals  that  they  should  go  back  to  Tuna  with  a 
Tibetan  messenger,  and  get  an  answer  from  the  Viceroy. 
They  kept  the  smiles  on  their  faces  till  they  had  mounted 
their  ponies  and  got  out  of  the  camp.  Then,  says  Young- 
husband,  '  we  galloped  off  as  hard  as  we  could,  lest 
the  monks  should  get  the  upper  hand  again  and  send 
after  us.  It  had  been  a  close  shave,  but  it  was  worth 
it.'  He  adds,  '  I  knew  from  that  moment  that  nowhere 
else  than  in  Lhasa,  and  not  until  the  monkish  power 
had  been  broken,  should  we  ever  make  a  settlement.' 

Within  the  next  few  days  a  Tibetan  general,  two 
captains,  and  two  other  messengers  were  sent  to 
persuade  the  Mission  to  return  to  Yatung  ;  and  after- 
wards an  official  from  the  neighbouring  State  of  Bhutan, 
with  the  attractive  name  of  '  the  Trimpuk  Jongpen,' 
came  on  the  same  errand.  But  as  soon  as  General 
Macdonald's  preparations  were  complete,  the  expedition 
moved  forward  towards  Gyantse.  They  were  but  a 
handful  of  men — 100  Englishmen  and  1200  Indians — 
and  the  Tibetans  made  an  attempt  to  stop  them  with 
the  usual  stone  wall  across  the  road,  at  a  place  called 
Guru.     The   sepoys   shepherded   them  quietly   out   of 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND  215 

their  position,  as  the  police  shepherd  a  London  crowd, 
and  all  would  have  passed  off  peacefully  if  the  Tibetan 
general  had  not  lost  his  temper  and  shot  a  Gurkha  in 
the  face  quite  unexpectedly.  The  troops  fired  in  reply, 
and  the  Tibetans  hastily  retreated,  with  considerable 
loss.  This  lamentable  affair  had  a  consoling  sequel : 
the  Tibetan  wounded  came  in  to  be  bandaged  by  our 
medical  staff  and  showed  great  gratitude  and  admira- 
tion for  the  skill  with  which  they  were  treated.  But  a 
second  force  built  another  wall  at  the  next  gorge,  and 
General  Macdonald  had  to  defeat  them  too,  before  the 
expedition  could  reach  Gyantse,  where  it  arrived  on 
April  11. 

A  military  campaign  had  now  been  forced  upon 
the  Mission,  and  a  most  unusual  one  it  turned  out 
to  be.  It  is  very  seldom  that  a  force  so  small  attempts 
to  invade  another  country,  with  no  possibility  of 
guarding  its  communications  against  a  serious  attack. 
It  is  still  more  seldom  that  troops  are  engaged  at  a 
height  greater  than  that  of  Mont  Blanc.  But  what 
made  this  campaign  quite  unique  was  the  fact  that  the 
victorious  force  was  trying  its  best  not  to  hurt  the 
enemy  :  our  men  had  to  fight  hard  for  their  own  lives 
and  yet  were  determined  to  avoid,  as  far  as  they  could, 
the  infliction  of  death  or  wounds  on  those  who  opposed 
them.  They  succeeded  in  both  ways  ;  they  won  the 
game,  but  they  kept  their  own  score  very  low.  It 
was  like  a  War  through  the  Looking-glass,  and  many 
of  the  officials  they  met  seemed  to  have  come  out  of 
Wonderland. 

Gyantse  itself  was  a  queer  place — a  small  town  with 
a  big  monastery  full  of  Lamas,  and  a  huge  fort  or  jong 
overlooking  the  whole  place.     The  Jong  was  evacuated, 


216    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

but  the  Mission  left  it  empty  and  made  a  strong  post 
opposite  to  it.  General  Macdonald  then  returned  to 
Chumbi  with  the  supports,  and  no  sooner  was  he  gone 
than  the  military  game  began  again.  The  Tibetans 
were  reported  to  be  building  a  wall  across  the  road  at 
the  Kuro-la,  a  pass  forty-five  miles  towards  Lhasa. 
Colonel  Brander  sallied  out  on  May  3  and  drove  them 
off  ;  but  his  Gurkhas  under  Major  Row  had  to  climb 
a  snow  slope  of  18,000  feet  to  outflank  them,  before 
they  would  give  way.  That  same  night,  just  before 
dawn,  another  force  of  800  Tibetans  tried  to  rush 
the  Mission  itself,  and  nearly  succeeded.  But  the 
Gurkha  sentries  were  stout  men,  and  the  attack  was 
badly  beaten.  On  the  26th  Colonel  Brander  took  the 
offensive  again  and  stormed  Palla,  a  village  close  to 
the  Jong.  On  the  30th  the  Tibetans  counter-attacked, 
and  were  again  beaten. 

Colonel  Younghusband  was  now  ordered  by  his 
Government  to  go  back  to  Chumbi  to  arrange  plans 
with  General  Macdonald.  On  his  way  down  he  was 
attacked  at  the  fortified  post  of  Kangma  ;  but  Captain 
Pearson  with  his  garrison  of  100  men  beat  off  the  rush 
and  scattered  the  enemy.  Meantime  the  Tibetans 
at  Gyantse  had  reoccupied  the  Jong  and  were  firing 
all  day  from  it  at  the  Mission,  with  old  jingals  carrying 
balls  of  the  size  of  oranges. 

But  reinforcements  had  now  come  up  from  India, 
and  on  June  26  Younghusband  returned  from  Chumbi 
with  General  Macdonald  and  a  strong  force,  defeating 
800  Tibetans  in  a  four-hour  fight  on  the  way  up.  Two 
days  after  this  the  work  of  recapturing  the  Gyantse 
Jong  was  begun  ;  a  ridge  was  captured  and  the  fort 
was   surrounded   on  three   sides.     The  Tibetans   then 


The  troops  fixed  in  reply.' 


218    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

sent  in  an  enormous  flag  of  truce  and  asked  for  an 
armistice  till  a  personage  called  the  Ta  Lama  could 
come  from  Lhasa.  On  our  side  another  personage, 
the  Tongsa  Penlop,  was  to  arrive  on  the  same  day  : 
he  was  the  ruler  of  Bhutan,  a  very  useful  and  pleasant 
man,  whom  our  Government  afterwards  made  Maharaja 
of  Bhutan.  Younghusband  invited  both  these  person- 
ages to  a  Durbar  ;  the  Tongsa  Penlop  came  punctually, 
but  the  Ta  Lama  and  his  party  were  deliberately  late. 
Younghusband  at  once  dismissed  the  Durbar.  He 
summoned  it  again  later,  but  the  Tibetans  were  as 
usual  all  for  delay.  As  no  one  could  be  got  to  order 
the  evacuation  of  the  Jong,  Younghusband  warned  the 
town  and  told  General  Macdonald  he  was  free  to  begin 
firing. 

The  Jong  was  a  fort  of  solid  masonry  on  a  precipi- 
tous rock,  and  had  5000  to  6000  Tibetans  inside  it. 
It  looked  impregnable,  but  was  breached  by  shell  fire, 
and  then  after  maxim  and  rifle  fire  it  was  gallantly 
stormed  by  the  Gurkhas  and  Royal  Fusiliers.  The 
Tongsa  Penlop,  who  had  been  rather  nervous  about 
the  result,  came  next  morning  to  congratulate,  and 
was  taken  over  the  fort.  He  was  astonished,  and  so 
were  our  men.  To  look  down  from  it  on  to  the  tiny 
Mission  post,  says  Younghusband,  was  like  looking 
down  from  the  Round  Tower  of  Windsor  Castle  upon 
a  house  and  garden  in  the  fields  about  Eton. 

It  was  now  a  whole  year  since  the  Mission  had 
arrived  at  Khamba  Jong — a  whole  year  wasted  by  the 
futile  tactics  of  the  monks  of  Lhasa — and  everyone 
was  glad  when  the  final  march  began  on  July  14.  The 
Tibetans  were  not  tired  of  the  game  yet ;  once  more 
they  barricaded  the  Karo-la,  and  once  more  they  were 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND 


219 


outflanked  by  the  Gurkhas  at  18,000  feet  on  the  snow. 
The  pass  itself  was  16, COO  feet  high,  and  over  this  the 


'  The  Tibetans  then  sent  in  an  enormous  flag  of  truce.' 


whole  force  marched.  No  sooner  were  they  over  it 
than  the  Ta  Lama  appeared  again,  with  another  person- 
age called  the  Yutok  Sha-pe,  and  offered  to  negotiate 
if    Younghusband   would    only   go   back   to    Gyantse. 


220  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

Some  days  were  lost  in  this  kind  of  talk,  and  then  the 
personages  decamped  suddenly  in  the  night. 

Next  morning,  July  21,  the  expedition  started  on 
the  final  stage.  The  first  day's  march  was  a  very 
pleasant  one,  along  the  shore  of  a  marvellous  lake, 
the  Yamdok  Tso,  which  the  Tibetans  call  the  Turquoise 
Lake  because  of  its  wonderful  colour,  though  it  is  far 
more  translucent  than  turquoise,  and  varies  through 
every  shade  of  colour  from  violet  to  green.  On  the 
22nd  another  stone  wall  was  encountered,  but  there  were 
no  Tibetans  behind  it,  and  the  expedition  soon  reached 
the  Kamba-la,  the  last  pass  before  Lhasa.  On  the  other 
side  the  pass  they  came  down  to  a  great  river,  the 
Tsang-po,  supposed  to  be  the  same  as  the  Brahma- 
putra of  India  :  it  was  here  140  yards  wide  and  flowing 
swift  and  strong.  Fortunately  the  mounted  infantry 
were  quick  enough  to  capture  the  two  large  ferry-boats. 
The  same  day  came  a  letter  from  the  Tibetan  National 
Assembly — the  first  written  communication  ever  re- 
ceived by  a  British  official  from  a  Tibetan  official 
since  the  days  of  Warren  Hastings,  130  years  before. 
It  was  of  course  an  urgent  request  to  Younghusband 
not  to  press  forward  to  Lhasa  ;  and  he  had  to  consider 
very  seriously,  for  the  last  time,  whether  he  ought  to 
take  the  risk  of  crossing  and  going  forward  with  so 
formidable  a  river  in  his  rear. 

In  such  a  position  a  man  decides  according  to  his 
character,  and  Younghusband  decided  to  cross  his 
Rubicon.  It  took  several  days  to  get  the  whole  force 
over,  and  while  this  was  being  done  the  Ta  Lama 
reappeared,  with  other  delegates,  on  the  old  errand. 
They  brought  with  them  this  time  a  letter  from  His 
Holiness  the  Dalai  Lama  himself — the  first  ever  written 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND  221 

by  any  Dalai  Lama  to  an  Englishman.  But  Yoimg- 
husband  argued  calmly  and  genially  with  them  at  one 
interview  after  another,  and  then  marched  on.  This 
was  a  day  of  constant  expectation.  For  a  long  time 
a  mountain  spur  hid  the  plain  from  sight,  but  at  last 
the  longed  for  moment  came.  '  It  was  about  half- 
past  one  in  the  afternoon,'  says  Mr.  Landon,  '  and  a 
light  blue  haze  was  settling  down  in  between  the  ravines 
of  the  far-distant  mountains  .  .  .  the  sun  was  merciless 
in  a  whitened  sky.  Then,  as  we  rode  on,  it  came  .  .  . 
across  and  beyond  the  flat  fields  of  barley  a  grey  pyramid 
disengaged  itself  from  behind  the  outer  point  of  the 
grey  concealing  spur — Lhasa.  There  at  last  it  was, 
the  never-reached  goal  of  so  many  weary  wanderers, 
the  home  of  all  the  occult  mysticism  that  still  remains 
on  earth.  .  .  .  There  was  Lhasa.' 

8.  In  the  Forbidden  City 

Younghusband  had  reached  Lhasa.  But  perhaps, 
as  Lord  Cromer  said  afterwards,  any  Englishman  in 
the  circumstances  could  have  got  there  ;  the  difficulty 
was  to  get  back  again — with  a  treaty  ;  and  this  was 
now  his  task.  He  had  only  some  six  weeks  before 
him,  for  he  must  be  back  before  the  winter  ;  he  must 
make  haste  without  seeming  to  be  in  a  hurry ;  he 
must  impress  his  will  without  offending.  He  began 
by  opening  negotiations,  on  the  very  day  of  his  arrival, 
with  Yu-tai,  the  Chinese  Resident  or  Amban. 

The  next  day  he  ventured  a  strong  and  charac- 
teristic move  :  in  order  to  return  the  Amban's  visit 
he  decided  to  take  the  risk  of  riding  right  through  the 
city.  It  was  of  course  swarming  with  hostile  monks, 
more  than  20,000  of  them,  but  to  show  fear  by  going 


222    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

round  outside  would  have  been  fatal  to  his  chances 
of  success.  So  with  two  companies  of  the  Royal 
Fusiliers,  the  2nd  Mounted  Infantry,  and  the  Amban's 
bodyguard,  he  went  right  through  the  heart  of  the 
Forbidden  City.  It  was  disappointing  in  itself  :  houses, 
streets,  and  inhabitants  were  all  extremely  filthy,  and 
the  temples  though  massive  were  ungainly.  But  the 
Potala,  the  Dalai  Lama's  palace,  made  up  for  every- 
thing. It  is  a  huge  building  of  granite,  bold  and  simple 
in  style,  nine  hundred  feet  long,  and  crowned  with  a 
gleaming  golden  roof,  the  top  of  which  is  seventy  feet 
higher  than  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  dome.  '  The  Potala,' 
says  Mr.  Landon,  '  would  dominate  London  :  Lhasa 
it  simply  eclipses.'  There  is  really  nothing  in  Europe 
with  which  to  compare  it  ;  it  has  the  massive  grandeur 
of  ancient  Egyptian  work,  with  far  greater  beauty  of 
colour  and  position. 

The  Amban  conveyed  the  proposed  terms  to  the 
Lamas,  but  their  reply  was  so  impertinent  that  he 
would  not  even  mention  it  officially  to  Colonel  Young- 
husband.  He  told  him  that  the  people,  on  the  other 
hand,  liked  us :  they  had  heard  of  our  kindness  to 
their  wounded,  and  they  were  anxious  to  trade  with 
us.  This  was  all  to  the  good,  and  soon  afterwards  the 
Dalai  Lama's  private  abbot  and  some  secretaries  or 
Sha-pes  came  to  pay  a  formal  visit.  Next  day  came 
a  more  interesting  personage,  the  Ti  Rimpoche,  or 
Chief  Doctor  of  Divinity  and  Metaphysics  ;  he  reported 
that  the  Dalai  Lama  had  left  him  the  Regency  and 
the  seals  of  office,  and  had  himself  fled  from  Lhasa. 

After  this  the  negotiations  were  carried  on  by  a  kind 
of  committee  of  mixed  personages  :  Colonel  Young- 
husband,  the  British  Commissioner,  the  Ti  Rimpoche, 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND  223 

Regent  of  Tibet,  the  Tongsa  Peiilop  of  Bhutan,  and 
Captain  Jit  Bahadur,  the  representative  of  the  neighbour- 
ing State  of  Nepal.  In  the  background,  behind  these 
sensible  men,  were  the  sullen  and  suspicious  monks, 
ready  for  any  treachery  or  savagery.  But  the  Ti 
Rimpoche  knew  that  he  would  have  to  sign  in  the  end. 
The  terms  demanded  were  briefly  :  (1)  The  opening  of 
trade  marts  ;  (2)  a  British  Resident  at  Gyantse  with 
power  to  go  to  Lhasa ;  (3)  destruction  of  certain  forti- 
fications ;  (4)  control  of  policy ;  (5)  an  indemnity  of 
half  our  costs ;  (6)  occupation  by  us  of  the  Chumbi 
Valley  till  the  yearly  instalments  of  the  indemnity 
were  paid.  The  time  for  payment  was  to  have  been 
only  three  years,  but  the  Ti  Rimpoche  argued  most 
persuasively  in  favour  of  a  longer  time.  He  said, 
laughing,  '  that  we  were  putting  on  the  donkey  a  load 
greater  than  it  could  possibly  carry.'  '  I  replied,' 
says  Younghusband,  '  that  I  was  not  asking  the 
donkey  to  carry  the  whole  load  in  one  journey — it 
could  go  backwards  and  forwards  many  times,  carrying 
a  light  load  each  journey.  The  Ti  Rimpoche  laughed 
again,  and  asked  what  would  happen  if  the  donkey 
died.  I  said  I  should  ask  the  Resident  to  see  that  the 
donkey  was  properly  treated,  so  that  there  should  be 
no  fear  of  its  dying.'  And  thereupon  Younghusband 
offered  to  consider  any  reasonable  proposal. 

It  was  now  the  end  of  August,  and  the  Commissioner 
had  come  to  his  most  anxious  moment.  He  thought 
it  would  take  till  October  to  get  his  Treaty  through  ; 
but  the  medical  staff  considered  September  1  the  latest 
safe  date  for  starting  homeward,  and  even  General 
Macdonald  was  only  prepared  to  stay  till  September  15, 
or  a  day  or  two  later  ;   snow  had  already  fallen  on  the 


224    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

passes.  The  Ti  Rimpoche  was  probably  not  unwilling 
to  agree  to  the  terms  ;  the  problem  was  how  to  induce 
the  Lamas  to  accept  them,  and  when  and  where  to 
hold  the  final  ceremony.  Younghusband  had,  by  now, 
an  unrivalled  experience  of  the  peculiar  diplomacy  of 
the  Tibetans  ;  he  had,  too,  a  more  than  Oriental  power 
of  sitting  silent  and  unwearied  through  hours  of  futile 
obstinacy,  and  seeing  into  the  childish  minds  of  these 
half  mystical,  half  savage  Lamas.  He  felt  sure  that 
they  were  now  all  convinced,  but  all  afraid  of  each 
other.  They  had  talked  themselves  out :  '  the  time 
to  strike  had  come.' 

His  way  of  striking  was  this.  He  told  the  Amban 
he  would  call  on  him  on  September  1,  with  the  full 
final  draft  of  the  Treaty,  and  that  he  wished  the  Tibetan 
Council  and  National  Assembly  to  be  present.  He 
intended  '  to  inform  the  whole  of  the  leading  men  of 
Lhasa,  monk,  lay,  and  official,  that  they  must  sign  the 
Treaty,  or  take  the  consequences  of  refusal.'  On 
September  1,  accordingly,  he  rode  through  Lhasa  in 
full  dress  to  the  Chinese  Residency  and  addressed  the 
assembled  Tibetans  with  calm  severity,  pointing  out 
that  their  own  conduct  had  been  the  sole  cause  of 
trouble  all  through,  that  the  terms  were  very  moderate, 
and  that  they  were  the  commands  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment, and  must  be  accepted.  They  could  have  a  week 
for  reflection,  if  they  wished,  but  the  indemnity  would 
be  increased  by  50,000  rupees  for  every  day  they  delayed. 

Within  three  days  the  Ti  Rimpoche  came  to  accept. 
Younghusband  then  extended  the  time  for  payment  to 
seventy-five  years,  and  forgave  the  fine  for  the  two 
days'  delay.  Thereupon  the  Ti  Rimpoche  sealed  the 
draft  Treaty  with  his  private  seal. 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND  225 

The  next  day,  September  4,  the  Amban  and  the 
principal  Tibetans  came  to  arrange  for  the  final 
ceremony.  Younghusband  had  always  felt  the  import- 
ance of  negotiating  nowhere  but  in  Lhasa  itself,  and 
he  now  felt  equally  sure  that  the  Treaty,  if  it  was  to 
be  a  really  solemn  and  binding  one,  must  be  signed 
nowhere  but  in  the  Potala  Palace,  and  in  the  very 
room  in  which  the  Dalai  Lama  himself  would  have 
held  such  a  ceremony,  if  he  had  been  there.  The 
Amban  agreed  ;  the  Tibetans  objected  strongly.  They 
gave  no  reason,  but  to  the  end  they  wanted  to  have 
their  own  way  and  not  to  recognise  the  British  as 
equals.  The  Commissioner  told  them  that  the  question 
was  not  one  for  discussion,  and  that  he  would  send 
his  officers  that  afternoon  to  inspect  the  Palace,  and 
satisfy  themselves  that  the  right  room  was  got  ready. 
This  was  done,  and  the  ceremony  was  then  fixed  for 
the  following  day. 

The  blow  had  been  struck ;  but  Younghusband 
had  many  secret  qualms  that  night.  He  knew  what 
the  Potala  meant  to  the  Tibetans — it  w^as  the  most 
forbidden  part  of  the  Forbidden  City  ;  he  remembered 
that  no  European — except  Manning,  a  humble  private 
traveller  nearly  a  century  ago — had  ever  been  allowed 
even  to  enter  the  building,  and  he  saw  vividly  what  his 
own  position  might  be  to-morrow,  shut  in  with  a  few 
followers,  and  surrounded  by  thousands  of  exasperated 
monks.  But  the  ceremony  was  worth  the  risk  ;  it 
would  strike  the  imagination  not  only  of  the  Tibetans 
but  of  our  own  men,  and  of  the  whole  Indian  world. 
In  Nepal,  Bhutan  and  Sikkim,  and  far  away  up  into 
Kashmir  and  Turkestan,  the  tribes  would  tell  the  news, 
and  realise  that  the  British  ruled  because  they  dared 


226    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

to  rule.  For  lack  of  this  imaginative  boldness  the 
Chinese  had  lost  their  power  in  Tibet — we  must  not 
fail  at  the  test. 

General  Macdonald  took  what  precautions  he  could  : 
he  lined  the  route,  placed  a  battery  to  salute — or 
bombard — the  Palace,  and  provided  a  bodyguard. 
Five  copies  of  the  Treaty  were  made  ready,  in  English, 
Tibetan  and  Chinese  :  one  for  Calcutta,  one  for  London, 
one  for  Lhasa,  one  for  the  Chinese  Government,  and 
one  for  our  Minister  in  Peking.  The  copy  for  the 
Tibetans  was  on  a  single  huge  sheet  of  paper,  and  they 
were  all  carried  on  a  large  silver  tray.  The  table  was 
Colonel  Younghusband's  own  camp  table,  and  it  was 
covered  with  the  Mission  Headquarters  flag,  the  same 
which  now  hangs  over  the  statue  of  Queen  Victoria  in 
Windsor  Castle. 

The  scene  inside  the  Potala  was  a  strange  one. 
On  the  left  of  the  Durbar  Hall  stood  the  British  and 
Indian  officers  and  men,  all  in  sober  fighting  uniforms. 
Opposite  them  were  the  mass  of  Tibetans,  the  Councillors 
in  yellow  silk  robes,  others  in  bright  colours,  with 
Bhutanese  also  in  brilliant  dresses  and  quaint  head- 
gear. Between  the  two  parties  the  Amban  advanced 
to  greet  the  British  Commissioner  ;  he  had  with  him 
his  own  staff  in  full  official  costume,  and  the  Regent, 
the  Ti  Rimpoche,  was  by  his  side,  in  the  severely  clerical 
dress  of  a  Lama.  The  pillars  and  roof  beams  of  the 
hall  were  rich  with  colour,  and  an  immense  silk  curtain, 
gorgeously  embroidered,  was  hung  across  it  as  a  back- 
ground to  the  chairs  of  state.  Over  all  there  was  a 
soft  hazy  light,  not  from  side  windows  but  from  a  great 
skylight  covered  with  coloured  canvas. 

The  Amban  took  his  seat  in  the  centre,  between 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND  227 

the  two  high  contracting  parties,  the  Commissioner  on 
the  right  and  the  Ti  Rimpoche  on  the  left.  Tea  was 
served  and  dried  fruits,  and  then  Colonel  Young- 
husband  ordered  the  Treaty  to  be  read  aloud  in  Tibetan, 
and  asked  the  Tibetans  if  they  were  prepared  to  sign 
it.  It  was  the  supreme  crisis  of  a  life  full  of  bold 
risks. 

He  had  read  his  opponents  rightly — they  accepted 
without  a  murmur.  The  long  process  of  sealing  then 
began.  Younghusband  asked  the  Tibetans  to  seal 
first,  and  when  the  seals  of  the  Council,  the  Monasteries, 
and  the  National  Assembly  had  been  affixed,  he  rose, 
and  advanced  with  the  Ti  Rimpoche  to  the  table,  the 
Amban  and  the  whole  Durbar  rising  at  the  same  time. 
The  Ti  Rimpoche  then  affixed  the  Dalai  Lama's  seal, 
and  finally  the  Commissioner,  having  sealed  and  signed 
the  document,  handed  it  to  the  Ti  Rimpoche,  saying 
that  a  peace  had  now  been  made  which  he  hoped  would 
never  again  be  broken. 

The  other  copies  were  then  sealed  and  signed  in 
like  manner,  and  finally  the  Tibetans,  laughing  and 
yet  respectful,  like  good  children,  crowded  round  to 
shake  hands  with  every  British  officer  they  could 
reach.  The  Commissioner  announced  that  he  would 
ask  General  Macdonald  to  give  back  all  his  prisoners, 
and  he  told  the  Tibetans  that  they  would  find  us  good 
friends,  as  they  had  found  us  bad  enemies.  Lastly 
he  gave  a  thousand  rupees  to  the  Lamas  of  the  Potala. 
He  had  beaten  these  monks  at  their  own  game ;  he 
had  broken  their  arrogant  seclusion  and  tyranny,  but 
he  was  not  without  respect  for  them.  Beneath  the 
degraded  form  of  their  religion  he  recognised  a  source 
of  real  strength. 


228  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

For  the  Ti  Rimpoche,  who  came  to  bid  him  good- 
bye a  few  days  later,  he  had  a  stronger  and  more 
unmixed  feehng.  The  reverend  old  Regent  brought 
him  an  image  of  Buddha  as  a  parting  present,  and  as 
he  put  it  into  my  hand,  says  Younghusband,  '  he  said 
with  real  impressiveness  that  he  had  none  of  the  riches 
of  this  world,  and  could  only  offer  me  this  simple  image. 
Whenever  he  looked  upon  an  image  of  Buddha  he 
thought  only  of  peace,  and  he  hoped  that  whenever 
I  looked  on  it  I  would  think  kindly  of  Tibet.  I  felt 
like  taking  part  in  a  religious  ceremony  as  the  kindly 
old  man  spoke  those  words  ;  I  was  glad  that  all  political 
wranglings  were  over,  and  that  now  we  could  part 
friends,  as  man  with  man.' 

Of  the  wonders  of  Lhasa  much  more  might  be 
told  ;  but  of  Younghusband's  great  journey  this  is 
the  end — a  good  Treaty  made  by  good  men. 

9.  A  Letter  to  Lhasa 

The  following  letter  was  written  to  Colonel  Young- 
husband  in  Lhasa  by  an  old  schoolfellow,  and  met 
him  on  his  return  : 

Epistle 

To  CoLONEii  Francis  Edward  Younghusband 

Across  the  Western  World,  the  Arabian  Sea, 
The  Hundred  I&igdoms  and  the  Rivers  Three, 
Beyond  the  rampart  of  Himalayan  snows, 
And  up  the  road  that  only  Rumour  knows, 
Unchecked,  old  friend,  from  Devon  to  Tibet, 
Friendship  and  Memory  dog  your  footsteps  yet. 

Let  not  the  scornful  ask  me  what  avails 
So  small  a  pack  to  follow  mighty  trails  : 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND  229 

Long  since  I  saw  what  difference  must  be 

Between  a  stream  like  you,  a  ditch  hke  me. 

This  drains  a  garden  and  a  homely  field 

Which  scarce  at  times  a  living  current  yield  ; 

The  other  from  the  high  lands  of  his  birth 

Plunges  through  rocks  and  spurns  the  pastoral  earth. 

Then  settling  silent  to  his  deeper  course 

Draws  in  his  fellows  to  augment  his  force. 

Becomes  a  name,  and  broadening  as  he  goes, 

Gives  power  and  purity  where'er  he  flows, 

Till,  great  enough  for  any  commerce  grown, 

He  links  all  nations  while  he  serves  his  own. 

Soldier,  explorer,  statesman,  what  in  truth 
Have  you  in  common  with  homekeeping  youth  ? 
'  Youth '  comes  your  answer  like  an  echo  faint ; 
And  youth  it  was  that  made  us  first  acquaint. 
Do  you  remember  when  the  Downs  were  white 
With  the  March  dust  from  highways  glaring  bright 
How  you  and  I,  like  yachts  that  toss  the  foam. 
From  Penpole  Fields  came  stride  and  stride  for  home  ? 
One  grimly  leading,  one  intent  to  pass, 
Mile  after  mile  we  measured  road  and  grass, 
Twin  silent  shadows,  tUl  the  hour  was  done, 
The  shadows  parted  and  the  stouter  won. 
Since  then  I  know  one  thing  beyond  appeal — 
How  runs  from  stem  to  stern  a  trimbuilt  keel. 
Another  day — but  that's  not  mine  to  tell. 
The  man  in  front  does  not  observe  so  well  ; 
Though,  spite  of  all  these  five-and-twenty  years, 
As  clear  as  life  our  schoolday  scene  appears. 
The  guarded  course,  the  barriers  and  the  rope  ; 
The  runners,  stripped  of  all  but  shivering  hope ; 
The  starter's  good  grey  head  ;    the  sudden  hush ; 
The  stern  white  line  ;    the  half-unconscious  rush ; 
The  deadly  bend,  the  pivot  of  our  fate  ; 
The  rope  again  ;    the  long  green  level  straight ; 
The  lane  of  heads,  the  cheering  half  unlieard  ; 
The  dying  spurt,  the  tape,  the  judge's  word. 


230  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

You,  too,  I  doubt  not,  from  your  Lama's  hall 

Can  see  the  Stand  above  the  worn  old  wall. 

Where  then  they  clamoured  as  our  race  we  sped. 

Where  now  they  number  our  heroic  dead.^ 

As  clear  as  life  you,  too,  can  hear  the  sound 

Of  voices  once  for  all  by  '  lock-up  '  bound, 

And  see  the  flash  of  eyes  still  nobly  bright 

But  in  the  '  Bigside  scrimmage  '  lost  to  sight. 

Old  loves,  old  rivalries,  old  happy  times, 

These  well  may  move  your  memory  and  my  rhymes  ; 

These  are  the  Past  ;    but  there  is  that,  my  friend, 

Between  us  two,  that  has  nor  time  nor  end. 

Though  wide  apart  the  lines  our  fate  has  traced 

Since  those  far  shadows  of  our  boyhood  raced, 

In  the  dim  region  all  men  must  explore — 

The  mind's  Tibet,  where  none  has  gone  before — 

Rounding  some  shoulder  of  the  lonely  ti*ail 

We  met  once  more,  and  raised  a  lusty  hail. 

'  Forward  I '  cried  one,  '  for  us  no  beaten  track, 
No  city  continuing,  no  turning  back  : 
The  past  we  love  not  for  its  being  past, 
But  for  its  hope  and  ardour  forward  cast  : 
The  victories  of  our  youth  we  count  for  gain 
Only  because  they  steeled  our  hearts  to  pain, 
And  hold  no  longer  even  Clifton  great 
Save  as  she  schooled  our  wills  to  serve  the  State. 
Nay,  England's  self,  whose  thousand-year-old  name 
Bums  in  our  blood  like  ever-smouldering  flame, 
Whose  Titan  shoulders  as  the  world  are  wide 
And  her  great  pulses  like  the  Ocean  tide. 
Lives  but  to  bear  the  hopes  we  shall  not  see — 
Dear  mortal  Mother  of  the  race  to  be.' 


1  In  the  school  quadrangle  at  Clifton,  the  site  from  which, 
upon  occasion,  the  grand  stand  used  to  overlook  the  Close,  is  now 
occupied  by  the  memorial  to  those  Cliftonians  who  fell  in  the 
South  African  War. 


FRANCIS  YOUNGHUSBAND  231 

Thereto  you  answered,  '  Forward  1    in  God's  name  : 

I  own  no  lesser  law,  no  narrower  claim. 

A  freeman's  Reason  well  might  think  it  scorn 

To  toil  for  those  who  may  be  never  born, 

But  for  some  Cause  not  wholly  out  of  ken, 

Some  all-directing  Will  that  works  with  men, 

Some  Universal  under  which  may  fall 

The  minor  premiss  of  our  effort  small ; 

In  Whose  unending  purpose,  though  we  cease, 

We  find  our  impulse  and  our  only  peace.' 

So  passed  our  greeting,  till  we  turned  once  more, 
I  to  my  desk  and  you  to  rule  Indore. 
To  meet  again — ah  I    when  ?     Yet  once  we  met, 
And  to  one  dawn  our  faces  still  are  set. 

Exeter, 
September  10,  1904. 


VII.  ROBERT  SCOTT 

1.  Twice  to  the  Antarctic 

In  1899  Sir  Clements  Markham,  then  President  of  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society,  was  actively  engaged  in 
furthering  the  exploration  of  the  unknown  Antarctic 
Continent.  For  leader  of  the  proposed  expedition 
his  choice  fell  upon  Captain  Robert  Falcon  Scott, 
R.N.,  whom  he  describes  as  '  a  rising  naval  officer,  able, 
accomplished,  popular,  highly  thought  of  by  his  superiors, 
and  devoted  to  his  noble  profession.'  It  was  a  serious 
responsibility,  says  Sir  Clements,  to  induce  Scott  to 
take  up  the  work  of  an  explorer ;  yet  no  man  living 
could  be  found  who  was  so  well  fitted  to  command 
a  great  Antarctic  Expedition. 

The  voyage  was  a  complete  success  ;  Scott's  dis- 
coveries were  of  great  importance.  He  surveyed  the 
Barrier  Cliffs  and  sounded  along  them,  discovered 
King  Edward  Land,  Ross  Island  and  the  other  volcanic 
islets,  and  examined  the  Barrier  surface.  But  his  most 
interesting  and  important  work  was  the  discovery  of 
the  Victoria  Mountains,  a  range  of  great  height  and 
many  hundreds  of  miles  in  extent ;  and  the  remarkable 
journey  towards  the  Pole,  by  which  he  ascertained  that 
the  South  Pole  is  situated  on  a  huge  ice  cap.  But  his 
equipment  did  not  enable  him  to  reach  it  on  this  occasion, 
and  whatever  he  may  have  resolved  about  the  future, 
on  his  return  to  England  the  Navy  claimed  his  services, 

232 


ROBERT  SCOTT  233 

and  he  spent  the  next  five  years  in  working  at  the 
Admiralty  and  commanding  battleships. 

In  1910  he  was  once  more  free  to  accept  the  com- 
mand of  an  expedition.  The  object  this  time  was 
mainly  scientific,  to  complete  and  extend  his  former 
work  in  all  branches  of  science.  For  this  his  ship, 
the  Terra  Nova,  was  completely  equipped — more  com- 
pletely, both  as  regards  men  and  material,  than  any 
that  had  ever  left  these  shores  ;  and  the  success  of  the 
expedition  was  proportionate.  This  time  it  was  also 
part  of  Scott's  plan  to  reach  the  South  Pole,  not  only 
to  make  good  his  own  belief  that  '  there  is  no  part  of 
the  world  that  can  not  be  reached  by  man,'  but  to 
achieve  scientific  results  on  the  way,  especially  by 
investigating  the  geological  formation  of  the  great 
mountain  range  which  he  had  discovered  before. 
Public  service  and  personal  distinction — these  were  the 
desires  which  moved  him,  and  how  he  thought  of  them 
may  be  seen  from  the  quotation  from  Sir  Humphrey 
Gilbert,  which  he  wrote  on  the  fly-leaf  of  his  MS.  book. 
'  He  is  not  worthy  to  live  at  all,  who  for  fear  and  danger 
of  death  shunneth  his  country's  service  or  his  own 
honour,  since  death  is  inevitable  and  the  fame  of  virtue 
immortal.' 

The  Terra  Nova  sailed  first  for  New  Zealand,  where 
she  arrived  early  in  November  1910.  Besides  the 
ship's  party  of  twelve  officers  and  twenty  men,  she 
carried  shore  parties  of  seven  officers  and  twelve 
scientific  men.  Scott's  officers  were  Lieutenant  Edward 
Evans,  Lieutenant  Victor  Campbell,  Lieutenant  Henry 
Bowers,  Captain  Lawrence  Gates  (the  Soldier),  and 
Surgeons  Levick  and  Atkinson.  His  scientific  staff  were 
Dr.  Edward  Wilson,  zoologist ;  Apsley  Cherry-Garrard, 


234    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

assistant  zoologist;  Dr.  George  Simpson,  meteoro- 
logist; Messrs.  Taylor,  Nelson,  Debenham,  Wright 
and  Priestley,  geologists,  biologists  and  physicists ; 
Herbert  Ponting,  camera  artist ;  Cecil  Meares,  in  charge 
of  dogs;  Bernard  Day,  motor  engineer;  and  Try ggve 
Gran,  a  Norwegian  naval  officer,  who  went  as  ski  expert. 
All  these  names  deserve  to  be  recorded  ;  some  of  them 
will  be  famous  as  long  as  Englishmen  are  proud  of 
their  breed. 

The  expedition  left  New  Zealand  on  November  26, 

and  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  they  sighted  the  great 

Antarctic    mountains   at    a    distance   of   110   miles — 

beautiful  peaks  lying   in  the  sunshine  at   10    o'clock 

of  a  November  evening.     Three  days  later  they  reached 

the  Barrier — the  vast  sheet  of  ice,  over  400  miles  wide 

and  even  more  in  depth,  which  lies  south  of  Ross  Island 

and  bars  the  seaway  to  the  Pole.     The  Barrier  was  here 

sixty   feet   high,  so   that  landing  was  impossible,   but 

Scott  coasted  along  to  a  point  where  he  had  erected  a 

hut  during  his  previous  voyage  in  the  Discovery.     Cape 

Armitage,  the  point  was  called,  but  he  now  renamed  it 

Cape   Evans,   in   honour  of   his   second   in   command, 

Edward    Evans,    and    there    the    expedition    landed, 

motor   sledges,   ponies,   dogs   and   all,   taking   a  week 

over  the  work.     A  new  hut  was  at  once  built,  and  a 

line  of  depots  begun  on  a  line  running  due  south  towards 

the  Pole.     There  were  eventually  between  Cape  Evans 

and  the  Pole  twelve  of  these  depots,  and  their  names 

and  order  must  be  given  here,  for  they  are  the  key 

to  the  story  which  follows.     Taking  them  in  the  outward 

order  they  were  these  :    Corner  Camp,  from  which  the 

start  was  to  be  made,  Bluff  Depot,  One  Ton  Dep6t, 

Mount  Hooper  Depot,  Mid-Barrier  Depot,  South  Barrier 


ROBERT  SCOTT  235 

Depot — these  were  all  on  the  comparatively  level  top 
of  the  ice  field.  Then  came  the  ascent  of  the  10,000 
foot  glacier  among  the  mountains :  Lower  Glacier 
Depot,  Mid-Glacier  Depot,  Upper  Glacier  Depot. 
Then  the  final  plateau  to  the  Pole,  which  is  itself  9,500 
feet  above  the  sea:  Three  Degree  Depot,  1|  Degree 
Depot,  and  Last  Depot.  Of  these  twelve  depots  of 
course  only  the  first  few  could  be  made  ready  before 
the  actual  journey. 

Meantime  the  building  operations  having  been 
carried  to  an  unexampled  point  of  perfection,  the 
scientific  observers  got  to  work,  and  for  ten  months 
the  whole  party  led  a  busy  and  harmonious  life.  They 
had,  of  course,  some  difficulties  and  accidents,  and  one 
real  shock.  On  February  22,  a  letter  reached  Scott 
from  Lieutenant  Campbell,  who  was  prospecting  to 
the  east  in  the  Bay  of  Whales,  announcing  that  he 
had  found  there  an  expedition  of  Norwegians  under 
Captain  Amundsen,  who  was  bent  on  being  the  first 
to  reach  the  South  Pole.  Scott  grasped  the  truth  of 
the  situation  at  once,  and  acted  with  perfect  judg- 
ment. The  Norwegians  had  gained  what  looked  like 
a  winning  position — Amundsen  had  chosen  a  starting 
point  where  he  was  sixty  miles  nearer  to  the  goal,  and 
had  succeeded,  against  all  likelihood,  in  getting  his 
sledges  and  dog  teams  safely  ashore  there.  He  had 
also  the  advantage  of  being  able  to  move  earlier  in 
the  season,  for  dogs  could  be  used  when  ponies  could 
not,  and  Scott  had  given  up  his  dogs  in  favour  of  ponies, 
since  he  found  that  their  pulling  power  was  not  sufficient 
for  his  route. 

With  all  this  in  his  mind,  many  a  man  would  have 
been   drawn   into   a   premature    and   dangerous   rush. 


236     THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

Scott  decided  at  once  to  go  on  '  exactly  as  though 
this  had  not  happened — to  go  forward  and  do  our 
best  for  the  honour  of  the  country  without  fear  or 
panic'  Six  months  afterwards  he  was  still  of  the 
same  mind  :  '  Any  attempt  to  race  must  have  wrecked 
my  plan  ;  besides  which  it  doesn't  appear  the  sort 
of  thing  one  is  out  for.  .  .  .  After  all,  it  is  the 
work  that  counts,  not  the  applause  that  follows.' 

But  he  meant  to  be  first  if  he  could,  and  in  these 
ten  months  he  made  every  kind  of  preparation  and 
experiment  that  he  could  devise  to  lay  the  ground 
for  success.  His  final  plan  was  an  elaborate  one, 
and  it  was  thought  out  in  every  detail.  The  motors 
were  to  go  ahead  as  far  as  they  could — he  did  not 
in  his  heart  expect  much  of  them — then  the  ponies 
were  to  take  up  the  running,  and  when  they  had 
to  give  up,  the  dogs  were  to  carry  on  with  lighter  loads. 
When  the  dogs  were  no  longer  useful,  the  party  was 
to  be  weeded  out,  and  the  fittest  and  strongest  were 
to  drag  the  last  sledge  themselves,  either  on  ski  or  on 
foot,  till  they  had  reached  the  Pole,  turned,  and  come 
back  from  depot  to  depot  to  where  the  dogs  would 
be  waiting  for  them.  At  each  depot  they  would 
pick  up  the  fresh  fuel  and  food  which  they  had  left 
in  store  there. 

There  remained  only  the  choice  of  the  men  for 
each  part  of  this  work.  Scott  had  from  the  first  been 
struck  with  the  extraordinary  efficiency  and  cordiality 
of  all  his  people ;  there  was — though  he  admits  that 
it  sounds  incredible — simply  no  friction  at  all :  '  There 
is  no  need  to  draw  a  veil ;  there  is  nothing  to  cover.' 
All  were  first-rate  ;  and  if  they  had  not  been  first-rate 
to  begin  with,  Scott's  own  character  and  his  generous 


ROBERT  SCOTT  237 

admiration  of  everyone  but  himself  would  soon  have 
made  them  so.  Of  Wilson  he  writes  :  '  Words  must 
always  fail  me  when  I  talk  of  Bill  Wilson.  I  believe 
he  really  is  the  finest  character  I  ever  met — every 
quality  is  so  solid  and  dependable ;  cannot  you 
imagine  how  that  counts  down  here  ?  Whatever  the 
matter,  one  knows  Bill  will  be  sound,  shrewdly  prac- 
tical, intensely  loyal  and  quite  unselfish.'  In  addition, 
he  says  that  Wilson  had  a  quiet  vein  of  humour  and 
really  consummate  tact,  and  was  naturally  the  most 
popular  member  of  the  party. 

Bowers  he  describes  as  '  a  positive  treasure, 
absolutely  trustworthy  and  prodigiously  energetic 
.  .  .  nothing  seems  to  hurt  his  tough  little  body,  and 
certainly  no  hardship  daunts  his  spirit.  His  inde- 
fatigable zeal,  his  unselfishness  and  his  inextinguish- 
able good  humour  made  him  a  delightful  companion 
on  the  march.' 

The  Soldier,  or  Titus  Gates,  as  he  was  also  called, 
was  very  popular  too.  '  A  delightfully  humorous 
old  pessimist — striving  with  the  ponies  night  and 
day,  and  bringing  woeful  accounts  of  their  small  ail- 
ments.' He  was  one  of  the  type  so  familiar  in  every 
public  school  and  regiment — grumbling,  enduring,  self- 
sacrificing  :   '  a  very  gallant  gentleman.' 

So  with  the  rest,  and  not  less  with  the  men  than 
the  officers.  Scott  understood  them  all,  because  he 
loved  human  nature.  '  The  study  of  individual 
character,'  he  writes,  '  is  a  pleasant  pastime  in  such 
a  mixed  community  of  thoroughly  nice  people,  and 
the  study  of  relations  and  interactions  is  fascinating.' 
Of  his  own  character  we  can  judge  from  the  wonderful 
Journal  in  which  he  recorded  his  admiration  of  others  ; 


238  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

but  there  are  plenty  of  witnesses  to  confirm  it.  '  From 
all  aspects,'  says  Sir  Clements  Markham,  '  Scott  was 
among  the  most  remarkable  men  of  our  time,  and 
the  vast  number  of  readers  of  his  Journal  will  be  deeply 
impressed  with  the  beauty  of  his  character.'  To 
this  his  surviving  companions  add  that  even  among 
so  many  experts  his  ability  seemed  extraordinary ; 
his  care  and  thoroughness  in  detail  were  unfailing  : 
he  was  both  firm  and  considerate,  and  tiiat  they 
estimated  him  truly  is  proved  by  their  speaking  of 
'  his  absolute  generosity.' 

One  more  quality  he  had,  most  valuable  in  a  leader. 
He  was  hopeful,  but  never  too  optimistic.  He  saw 
the  meaning  of  a  misfortune  quicker  than  anyone, 
but  he  often  recorded  it  quietly  without  commenting 
aloud.  He  was  able  to  do  this  because  he  was  never 
afraid  ;  he  had  calculated  his  risks,  done  his  best  to 
provide  against  them,  and  was  ready  to  accept  the 
result.  His  last  entry  before  starting  for  the  Pole 
ends  thus  :  '  The  future  is  in  the  lap  of  the  gods  ;  I 
can  think  of  nothing  left  undone  to  deserve  success.' 

2.  The  Tale  of  Ten  Ponies 

Scott  left  Cape  Evans  on  November  1,  and  reached 
the  Beardmore  Glacier  on  December  10 — a  distance 
of  276  statute  miles.  The  story  of  this  first  stage 
of  the  journey  is  the  story  of  the  ten  ponies  upon 
whose  well-being  so  much  depended.  Depots  of  food 
and  fuel  had  to  be  dropped  and  cairns  erected  all 
the  way  out,  so  that  the  party  returning  from  the  Pole 
would  pick  up  supplies  every  few  days.  The  farther 
the  ponies   could  go  the  less  would  be  the   distance 


ROBERT  SCOTT  239 

over  which  the  men  would  have  to  pull  their  own 
sledges,  and  it  was  most  disappointing  that,  in  spite 
of  all  the  winter  training  and  the  endless  trouble  and 
care  that  Gates  had  taken  with  them,  they  did  not 
last  beyond  December  9. 

They  started  off  well  enough.  Christopher,  as 
usual,  was  a  little  devil  to  harness,  and  Nobby  had 
a  fit  of  obstinacy  half-way  through  the  first  day's 
march  and  needed  some  persuasion  and  a  rearrange- 
ment of  his  load  before  he  would  go  on  again  ;  but 
they  all  arrived  fresh  and  in  good  time  at  Hut  Point, 
the  first  camping  place.  Scott  found  that  the  indi- 
vidual ponies  varied  so  much  in  pace  that  he  arranged 
them  henceforth  in  three  parties  ;  the  very  slow,  the 
medium  paced,  and  the  fliers. 

Snatcher,  who  led  the  latter  group,  was  to  start 
last,  and  would  probably  even  so  end  up  in  front  of 
them  all.  There  was  also  a  party  with  the  dogs ; 
and  the  motors  had  gone  on  ahead. 

On  Thursda}^  night,  November  2,  after  supper 
the  expedition  left  Hut  Point  in  detachments  as 
arranged.  They  lunched  at  midnight,  and  Pouting 
got  his  cinematograph  up  in  time  to  take  the  rear 
guard  as  it  came  along  in  fine  form  with  Snatcher 
leading.  At  the  next  camp  the  ponies  mostly  arrived 
very  tired,  but  were  quite  fit  again  after  their  rest. 
Bones  created  a  disturbance  by  eating  Christopher's 
goggles  and  the  protecting  leather  fringe  on  the  bridle, 
and  poor  Christopher  was  left  blinking  in  the  sun. 
The  party  started  again  at  1  p.m.  It  was  then,  Scott 
tells  us,  '  a  sweltering  day,  the  air  breathless  and  the 
glare  intense.'  And  yet  the  temperature  was  —  22°, 
and  six  hours  earlier  he  had  had  a  frost-bitten  thumb. 


240    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

The  following  day  a  cheerful  note  was  picked  up 
saying  all  was  well  with  the  two  motors  which  had  gone 
on  ahead  with  two  sledges  apiece.  But  four  and  a  half 
miles  farther  on  Scott's  party  found  Day's  motor,  sledges 
and  all,  abandoned  in  the  track,  and  a  note  to  say  that 
a  cylinder  had  broken,  and  the  only  spare  one  having 
been  already  used,  Day  and  Lashly,  the  drivers,  had 
pushed  on  with  the  other  motor.  '  So,'  writes  Scott, 
'  the  dream  of  great  help  from  the  machines  is  at 
an  end.  The  track  of  the  remaining  motor  goes 
steadily  forward,  but  now  of  course  I  shall  expect  to 
see  it  every  hour  of  the  march.'  It  was  as  he  feared. 
On  Sunday,  November  5,  three  black  dots  were  seen 
to  the  south,  and  on  Monday,  when  the  party  got  up 
to  them,  they  proved  to  be  the  motor  and  two  sledges 
abandoned  like  the  first  one.  Another  cracked  cylinder 
was  the  cause  of  the  trouble,  and  the  drivers  had  had  to 
leave  the  machine  and  go  ahead  as  a  man-hauling  party. 

On  this  day  the  ponies  did  splendidly  with  full 
loads.  They  were  evidently  getting  hardened  to 
the  work,  and  everyone,  even  Oates,  felt  cheered  and 
optimistic  about  them.  But  on  Monday  night  a 
blizzard  blew  up  which  lasted  till  late  on  Tuesday 
afternoon.  There  was  a  heavy  fall  of  snow,  and  though 
everything  possible  was  done  to  shelter  the  ponies, 
there  seemed  no  way  of  making  them  comfortable. 
A  blizzard  always  had  the  same  withering  effect  on 
them,  attributed  by  Scott  to  the  excessively  fine 
particles  of  snow  being  driven  in  between  the  hairs 
of  the  coat,  where  it  melts,  and  in  running  off  as  water, 
carries  away  the  animal  heat.  However,  at  midnight 
when  their  rugs  were  taken  off,  they  started  again 
quite    briskly    and    appeared    none    the    worse.     The 


ROBERT  SCOTT 


241 


weather  improved,  the  surface  was  good  and  they 
drew  their  heavy  loads  without  any  sign  of  tired- 
ness. Most  of  them  stopped  occasionally  for  a  mouth* 
ful  of  snow,  but  Christopher,  though  more  tiresome 
than  ever  to  harness,  went  ahead  when  once  he  started 
without  any  pause.  Both  men  and  ponies  revelled 
in  the  warm  sun,  and  everyone  was  fit  and  cheery. 


^\v/ 


'  Tlie  ponies  mostly  arrived  veiy  tired.' 


On  the  10th,  weather  conditions  again  became 
bad.  A  strong  headwind  and  a  snowstorm  made  pro- 
gress very  slow  and  difficult.  On  the  12th,  Atkinson 
said  Chinaman,  one  of  the  less  good  ponies,  could  not 
last  more  than  a  mile  or  two,  but  Oates  thought  he 
would  carry  on  for  several  days  still.  The  others  were 
as  well  as  could  be  expected,  and  Jehu,  another  crock, 
better  than  anyone  had  thought  possible.  But  even 
One  Ton  Depot  was  still  seventeen  or  eighteen  miles 
ahead,  and   Scott   began   to   feel   very   anxious  about 


242    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

the  ponies.  '  If  they  pull  through  well,'  he  wrote 
on  the  13th,  '  all  the  thanks  will  be  due  to  Gates.  I 
trust  the  surface  and  weather  conditions  will  improve ; 
both  are  rank  bad  at  present.' 

One  Ton  Depot — 130  geographical  miles  from 
Cape  Evans — was  reached  on  the  15th.  It  was  decided 
to  give  the  ponies  a  day's  rest  and  then  push  on  again 
thirteen  geographical  miles  a  day,  marching,  as  before, 
mostly  at  night.  Gates  was  only  fairly  cheerful  about 
the  ponies — Scott  decidedly  more  hopeful.  The  loads 
were  rearranged  and  the  stronger  ponies  were  again 
given  about  500  lbs.  a  piece  to  pull ;  the  others  about 
400  lbs. 

Gn  the  18th,  Scott  writes  :  '  The  crocks  are  going 
on  very  wonderfully.  Gates  gives  Chinaman  at  least 
three  days,  and  Wright  says  he  may  go  for  a  week. 
This  is  slightly  inspiriting,  but  how  much  better  it 
would  have  been  to  have  had  ten  really  reliable  beasts  I 
It's  touch  and  go  whether  we  scrape  up  to  the  Glacier ; 
meanwhile  we  get  along  somehow.  At  any  rate  the 
bright  sunshine  makes  everything  look  more  hopeful.' 

Gn  the  19th  the  going  was  very  bad,  but  things 
improved  on  the  20th,  and  the  animals  marched  steadily 
that  day  and  the  next.  Meares,  the  leader  of  the  dog 
team,  was  beginning  to  look  eagerly  for  some  horse 
flesh  to  feed  his  dogs,  but  Atkinson  and  Gates  were  set 
on  getting  past  the  place  where  Shackleton  killed  his  first 
animal  before  they  should  have  to  shoot  one  of  theirs. 

Gn  the  22nd,  Scott  writes  :  '  Everything  much  the 
same.  The  ponies  thinner  but  not  much  weaker.  The 
crocks  still  going  along.  Jehu  is  now  called  "  The 
Barrier  Wonder"  and  Chinaman  "The  Thunderbolt." 
Two  days  more  and  they  will  be  well  past  the  place 


ROBERT  SCOTT  243 

where  Shackleton  killed  his  first  animal.  Nobby 
keeps  his  pre-eminence  of  condition  and  has  now  the 
heaviest  load  by  some  50  lbs.  ;  most  of  the  others 
are  under  500  lbs.  load,  and  I  hope  will  be  eased  further 
yet.  The  dogs  are  in  good  form  still,  and  came  up 
well  with  their  loads  this  mornine.  It  looks  as  though 
we  ought  to  get  through  to  the  Glacier  without  great 
difficulty.' 

On  the  24th,  when  they  were  still  some  135  geo- 
graphical miles  from  the  Glacier,  Jehu  was  led  back 
on  the  track  and  shot,  on  the  whole  a  merciful  ending. 
The  other  two  ciocks.  Chinaman  and  Jimmy  Pigg, 
were  working  splendidly  and  seemed,  if  anything,  to 
improve,  and  things  went  fairly  well  until  the  27th, 
when  a  heavy  fall  of  snow  and  a  soft  surface  tired  the 
animals  badly.  There  was  no  improvement  the  next 
day  The  blizzard  continued  and  drove  the  snow  full 
in  their  faces.  Chinaman  had  to  be  shot  that  night, 
but  the  others,  though  tired,  had  still  some  days'  work 
in  them.  The  Glacier  was  now  about  seventy  miles 
ahead,  and  Scott  was  most  anxious  to  get  them  as  far 
as  that  if  possible. 

On  the  29th  the  sky  cleared,  the  sun  came  out  and 
land  could  be  seen  ahead,  but  the  surface  was  very  soft 
and  the  ponies  frequently  sank  up  to  their  knees.  On 
December  1,  Scott  wrote:  '  The  ponies  are  tiring  pretty 
rapidly.  It  is  a  question  of  days  with  all  except  Nobby. 
Yet  they  are  outlasting  the  forage,  and  to-night,  against 
some  opinion,  I  decided  Christopher  must  go.  He  has 
been  shot ;  less  regret  goes  with  him  than  the  others, 
in  remembrance  of  all  the  trouble  he  gave  at  the  outset, 
and  the  unsatisfactory  way  he  has  gone  of  late.  Here 
we  leave  a  depot,  so  that  no  extra  weight  is  brought 


244    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

on  the  other  ponies  ;  in  fact  there  is  a  shght  diminution. 
Three  more  marches  ought  to  bring  us  through.' 

The  next  day,  after  another  trying  march  partly  in 
faUing  snow,  Victor  too  was  shot  and  fed  to  the  dogs. 
On  Sunday,  December  3,  the  party  woke  to  yet  another 
bhnding  bHzzard  and  could  not  start  till  it  had  cleared 
at  2  P.M.  Before  3  the  sun  disappeared  and  snow  fell 
thickly  again.  The  weather  conditions  were,  as  Scott 
said,  preposterous,  and  the  changes  perfectly  bewildering 
in  their  rapidity.  Everything  seemed  to  be  going 
against  the  expedition  and  every  mile  of  advance  had 
to  be  fought  for.  A  fresh  blizzard  again  delayed  the 
start  on  the  4th  till  2  p.m.,  but  the  daily  distance  of 
thirteen  geographical  miles  was  made  good  by  8  p.m., 
and  the  ponies  marched  splendidly.  Nevertheless, 
Michael  had  to  be  shot  in  the  evening  to  provide  food 
for  the  dog  team,  and  the  men,  too,  thoroughly  enjoyed 
a  meal  of  hot  pony  hoosh.  Only  five  or  six  miles  had 
been  lost  on  the  two  very  bad  days,  and  with  any  luck 
all  would  yet  have  been  well,  but  on  the  5th  the  party 
woke  once  more  to  a  blizzard.  The  misfortunes  of 
the  next  four  days  are  best  told  by  extracts  from 
Scott's  own  diary. 

'  Tuesday,  December  5. — Camp  30.  Noon.  We 
awoke  this  morning  to  a  raging,  howling  blizzard. 
The  blows  we  have  had  hitherto  have  lacked  the 
very  fine  powdery  snow — that  especial  feature  of  the 
blizzard.  To-day  we  have  it  fully  developed.  After 
a  minute  or  two  in  the  open  one  is  covered  from  head 
to  foot.  The  temperature  is  high,  so  that  what  falls 
or  drives  against  one  sticks.  The  ponies — head,  tails, 
legs,  and  all  parts  not  protected  by  their  rugs — are 
covered  with  ice ;    the  animals  are  standing  deep  in 


ROBERT  SCOTT  245 

snow,  the  sledges  are  almost  covered,  and  huge  drifts 
above  the  tents.  We  have  had  breakfast,  rebuilt 
the  walls,  and  are  now  again  in  our  bags.  One  cannot 
see  the  next  tent,  let  alone  the  land.  What  on  earth 
does  such  weather  mean  at  this  time  of  year  ?  It  is 
more  than  our  share  of  ill-fortune,  I  think,  but  the 
luck  may  turn  yet. 

'  11  P.M. — It  has  blown  hard  all  day  with  quite 
the  greatest  snowfall  I  remember.  The  drifts  about 
the  tents  are  simply  huge.  The  temperature  was 
_+  27°  this  forenoon,  and  rose  to  +31°  in  the  after- 
noon, at  which  time  the  snow  melted  as  it  fell  on 
anything  but  the  snow,  and,  as  a  consequence,  there 
are  pools  of  water  on  everything,  the  tents  are  wet 
through,  also  the  wind  clothes,  night  boots,  &c.  ;  water 
drips  from  the  tent  poles  and  door,  lies  on  the  floor- 
cloth, soaks  the  sleeping-bags,  and  makes  everything 
pretty  wretched.  .  .  .  Yet  after  all  it  would  be 
humorous  enough  if  it  were  not  for  the  seriousness 
of  delay — we  can't  afford  that,  and  it's  real  hard  luck 
that  it  should  come  at  such  a  time. 

'  Wednesday,  December  6. — Camp  30.  Noon. 
Miserable,  utterly  miserable.  We  have  camped  in 
the  "  Slough  of  Despond."  The  tempest  rages  with 
unabated  violence.  .  .  .  The  ponies  look  utterly 
desolate.  Oh  !  but  this  is  too  crushing,  and  we  are 
only  twelve  miles  from  the  Glacier.  A  hopeless  feel- 
ing descends  on  one  and  is  hard  to  fight  off.  What 
immense  patience  is  needed  for  such  occasions. 

'  Thursday,  December  7. — Camp  30.  The  storm 
continues  and  the  situation  is  now  serious.  One 
small  feed  remains  for  the  ponies  after  to-day,  so 
that  we  must  either  march  to-morrow  or  sacrifice  the 


246     THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

animals.  That  is  not  the  worst ;  with  the  help  of 
the  dogs  we  could  get  on  without  doubt.  The  serious 
part  is  that  we  have  this  morning  started  our  Summit 
rations — that  is  to  say,  the  food  calculated  from  the 
Glacier  Depot  has  begun.  The  first  supporting  party- 
can  only  go  on  a  fortnight  from  this  date  and  so  forth. 

'  Friday,  December  8. — Camp  30.  Hoped  against 
hope  for  better  conditions  to  wake  to  the  mournfuUest 
snow  and  wind  as  usual.  .  .  .  Our  case  is  growing 
desperate.  .  .  .  Wilson  thinks  the  ponies  finished, 
but  Gates  thinks  they  will  get  another  march  in  spite 
of  the  surface,  if  it  comes  to-morrow.  If  it  should 
not,  we  must  kill  the  ponies  to-morrow  and  get  on 
as  best  we  can  with  the  men  on  ski  and  the  dogs. 

'  11  P.M. — The  wind  has  gone  to  the  north,  the 
sky  is  reaPy  breaking  at  last,  the  sun  showing  less 
sparingly,  and  the  land  appearing  out  of  the  haze.  .  .  . 
Everything  looks  more  hopeful  to-night,  but  nothing 
can  recall  four  lost  days.' 

Early  the  next  morning  a  start  was  made  at  last, 
and  Camp  31  was  reached  at  8  p.m.  The  ponies  were 
by  then  quite  done,  and  were  all  shot  that  night. 
'  Thank  God,'  wrote  Wilson,  '  the  horses  are  now  all 
done  with  and  we  begin  the  heavy  work  ourselves.' 
Camp  31  received  the  name  of  Shambles  Camp  in 
memory  of  this  painful  episode. 

3.  At  the  South  Pole 

The  ex-motor  party  had  already  turned  back 
on  November  24,  and  three  man-hauled  sledges  left 
Shambles  Camp  on  December  10  ;  the  first  was  drawn 
by  Scott,  Wilson,  Gates  and  Edgar  Evans ;   the  second 


ROBERT  SCOTT  247 

by  Edward  Evans,  Atkinson,  Wright  and  Lashly,  and 
the  third  by  Bowers,  Cherry-Garrard,  Crean,  and 
Keohane.  The  dogs,  drawing  another  800  lbs.  of  stores, 
accompanied  them  until  the  afternoon  of  the  11th,  and 
then  they,  too,  turned  back. 

From  Lower  Glacier  Depot,  left  on  December  11, 
the  three  sledge  parties  climbed  steadily  up  the  Beard- 
more  Glacier  and  reached  the  summit,  8,000  feet  up, 
on  the  21st.  It  was  a  terrible  pull  to  begin  with. 
The  runners  of  the  sledges  became  coated  with  a  thin 
film  of  ice  so  that  they  would  not  glide,  and  both 
men  and  sledges  sank  deep  into  the  soft  snow  which, 
owing  to  the  recent  storm,  filled  the  lower  valley. 
Again  and  again  the  parties  got  bogged,  and  they 
would  not  have  made  any  headway  at  all  but  for  their 
skis,  which  now  proved  invaluable.  One  or  two  members 
of  the  expedition  began  to  show  signs  of  being  over- 
tired, and  to  add  to  their  other  troubles  some  of  them 
got  bad  attacks  of  snow  blindness.  On  the  13th,  two 
of  the  parties  had  to  resort  to  relay  work.  The  snow 
had  become  wet  and  sticky  and  the  men  struggled  on 
soaked  in  perspiration  and  thoroughly  breathless.  By 
camping  time  at  7  p.m.  only  a  bare  four  miles  had  been 
covered — '  a  most  damnably  dismal  day,'  as  Scott 
describes  it. 

The  next  day  things  improved  a  little.  The  covering 
of  snow  over  the  ice  grew  thinner  as  they  mounted, 
there  were  fewer  stoppages,  and  the  re-starting  was 
much  easier.  But  on  the  loth  snow  fell  again  for  some 
hours,  interrupting  the  march  and  making  the  surface 
again  very  bad. 

On  the  17th  the  luck  really  seemed  to  be  on  the 
turn.     They   were   now   3,500  feet  above   the   Barrier 


248    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

and  the  going  was  better,  though  a  sharp  look-out 
had  to  be  kept  for  crevasses,  which  were  very  numerous 
in  some  places.  Apart  from  sore  lips  and  snow  blind- 
ness everyone  was  very  fit  and  cheerful  and  feeling 
well  fed,  for  the  Summit  ration  proved  an  excellent 
one  and  most  satisfying.  The  crampons,  too,  invented 
by  P.O.  Evans  for  this  part  of  the  journey  on  the  rough 
ice,  were  a  great  success. 

On  the  19th,  Scott  wrote :  '  Days  like  this  put  heart 
into  one,'  and  on  the  21st  they  camped  at  Upper  Glacier 
Depot,  'practically  on  the  summit  and  up  to  date  in 
the  provision  line.'  There  seemed  a  very  good  chance 
now  of  getting  through. 

On  the  22nd  the  first  supporting  party  turned  back. 
Scott  had  told  off  Atkinson,  Wright,  Cherry-Garrard 
and  Keohane  as  being  the  four  M'ho  had  suffered  most 
from  the  hardships  of  the  journey.  Nevertheless  their 
disappointment  was  great.  The  two  remaining  sledge 
parties  went  ahead  very  well  to  begin  with,  doing  10| 
and  8|  geographical  miles  in  the  day.  Crevasses  were 
troublesome  at  times,  but  on  the  whole  Scott  was  very 
cheerful,  and  for  the  first  time  the  goal  seemed  really  in 
sight.  He  found  that  he  and  his  companions  could 
pull  their  present  loads  faster  and  farther  than  he  had 
ever  expected,  and  a  fair  share  of  good  weather  was 
the  one  thing  left  to  pray  for. 

On  Christmas  Eve  Lashly  very  suddenly  went  down 
a  crevasse,  nearly  dragging  the  others  with  him.  But 
he  was  rescued  none  the  worse  and  quite  undisturbed 
by  his  fall.  Christmas  Day  was  marked  by  chocolate 
and  raisins  at  lunch  and  a  grand  four-course  supper 
of  '  pemmican  with  slices  of  horse  meat  flavoured  with 
onion  and  curry  powder  and  thickened  with  biscuits ; 


'^'J-«nle5  \.VVoocL^ 


'  The  two  remaining  sledge  parties  went  ahead  very  well .' 


250    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

then  an  arrowroot,  cocoa  and  biscuit  hoosh  sweetened ; 
then  a  plum-pudding ;  then  cocoa  with  raisins,  and 
finally  a  dessert  of  caramels  and  ginger.'  After  this 
feast  it  was  difficult  to  move,  and  everyone  felt  thoroughly 
warm  and  slept  splendidly. 

During  the  next  few  days  more  crevasses  and 
disturbances  were  met  with  and  something  went  wrong 
with  one  of  the  sledges.  The  loading  was  not  right 
and  had  to  be  readjusted.  Once  this  was  readjusted 
the  second  party  were  able  to  keep  up  again.  The 
distances  covered  each  day  were  satisfactory,  but  the 
marches  were  becoming  terribly  monotonous,  and  the 
strain  was  especially  great  for  Scott,  who  was  responsible 
for  steering  the  course  and  so  could  not  let  his  thoughts 
wander. 

On  December  31  a  week's  provisions  for  both  units 
was  dumped  and  the  place  named  Three  Degree  Depot. 
Then  the  two  sledges  were  stripped  and  rebuilt  as 
10-foot  instead  of  12-foot  sledges.  Under  the  conditions, 
with  a  temperature  of  10°,  it  was  a  difficult  and  trying 
job,  and  was  admirably  tackled  and  completed  by 
P.O.  Evans  with  the  help  of  Crean.  The  smaller 
sledges  travelled  well,  but  the  second  party  were  clearly 
tiring  now,  and  on  January  3,  when  they  were  still 
150  miles  from  the  Pole,  Scott  reorganised  for  the 
last  time  and  sent  back  Lieutenant  Evans,  Lashly  and 
Crean.  Bowers  was  to  make  a  fifth  in  Scott's  tent. 
Lieutenant  Evans  was  terribly  disappointed,  but  took 
it  very  well.  Poor  Crean  wept,  and  Lashly,  too,  found 
it  very  hard  to  have  to  turn  back.  The  story  of  their 
awful  experiences  on  the  return  journey,  and  of  Evans' 
illness  and  rescue,  may  be  read  elsewhere. 

Petty  Officer  Evans  belonged  to  the  chosen  five. 


ROBERT  SCOTT  251 

He  was  a  most  admirable  worker  and  was  responsible 
not  only  for  the  ski  and  crampons  but  for  all  the 
sledges,  harness,  tents  and  sleeping-bags,  and  no  one 
had  ever  been  heard  to  make  a  complaint  about  any 
of  the  things  he  had  made. 

Bowers  was  responsible  for  the  stores  and  for 
the  meteorological  record.  On  this  last  part  of  the 
march  he  was  also  photographer  and  observer.  No 
kind  of  work  came  amiss  to  him,  and  he  used  to  work 
out  sights  coiled  up  in  his  bag  at  night  long  after 
the  others  were  asleep,  and  yet,  in  spite  of  his  short 
legs,  he  never  seemed  tired.  Scott  wrote  of  him  on 
January  8 :  '  Little  Bowers  remains  a  marvel — he  is 
thoroughly  enjoying  himself.' 

Gates  had  been  invaluable  with  the  ponies,  and 
now  he  took  his  share  in  all  the  heavy  work,  both  of 
pulling  and  of  making  camp,  and  so  far  he  seemed  to 
be  standing  the  hardships  as  well  as  anj^one. 

Of  Wilson,  Scott  could  not  speak  warmly  enough. 
He  never  wavered  from  start  to  finish  and,  as  doctor, 
devoted  himself  entirely  to  helping  his  companions 
in  every  possible  way,  often  at  great  cost  to  himself. 
He  suffered  a  good  deal  from  snow  blindness,  but  was 
invariably  cheerful. 

On  Scott  himself,  as  leader,  rested  the  whole  respon- 
sibility of  the  expedition  and  the  lives  of  his  com- 
panions. He  had  to  make  every  decision  connected 
with  the  march,  from  the  minutest  detail  of  food 
rations  or  clothing  to  the  serious  problems  of  direction 
and  guidance.  However  tired  or  despairing  he  might 
feel  at  times,  he  must  always  appear  cheerful  and 
hopeful  ;  he  must  be  the  first  to  wake  in  the  morning 
and  the  last  to  turn  in  at  night ;    and  he  must  know 


252    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

how  to  get  the  very  best  out  of  his  companions  under 
all  circumstances.  Splendidly  he  fulfilled  all  these 
requirements  ;  his  companions  had  entire  confidence 
in  him  and  he  in  them. 

Such  were  the  five  men  who  now  pushed  on  towards 
the  Pole  with  150  miles  of  hard  pulling  in  front  of  them 
and  the  chance  of  finding  the  Norwegian  flag  already 
flying  when  they  arrived. 

On  January  4  and  5,  things  seemed  to  be  going 
so  extraordinarily  smoothly  that  Scott  began  to 
wonder  if  such  good  fortune  could  last,  and  what 
new  obstacle  was  in  store  for  them.  Success  seemed 
to  be  coming  nearer  and  nearer  every  hour.  But 
the  expected  obstacles  soon  made  their  appearance. 
The  surface  again  became  rough  and  broken  as  the 
result  of  a  mass  of  sastrugi,  the  name  given  to  the  snow 
formations  formed  by  the  winds  over  the  surface.  The 
marches  were  very  tiring,  and  P.O.  Evans,  too,  had  a 
nasty  cut  on  his  hand  which  he  got  while  repairing 
the  sledges. 

They  were  now  past  Shackleton's  farthest  point, 
and  all  that  was  ahead  of  them  was  new.  The  march- 
ing became  more  and  more  monotonous,  and  on 
January  10,  only  10*8  miles  were  covered  in  a  terribly 
hard  day's  work.  The  surface  was  '  beyond  words, ' 
quite  covered  with  sandy  snow.  '  Only  85  miles  from 
the  Pole,'  says  Scott,  '  but  it's  going  to  be  a  stiff  pull 
both  ways  apparently  ;  still  we  do  make  progress,  which 
is  something.' 

On  the  11th,  they  did  eleven  miles,  but  at  a  fear- 
ful cost.  '  About  74  miles  from  the  Pole — can  we 
keep  this  up  for  seven  days  ?  It  takes  it  out  of  us 
like    anything.'     On    the   12th    they    marched    nearly 


ROBERT  SCOTT  253 

nine  hours  for  10*7  miles,  and  were  all  chilled  from 
exhaustion.  Admiration  for  each  other  kept  them 
up.  '  Little  Bowers  is  wonderful,'  says  Scott ;  '  in 
spite  of  my  protest  he  would  take  sights  after  we  had 
camped  to-night,'  and  this  was  the  more  remarkable 
because  Bowers,  one  of  whose  ski  had  been  lost,  had 
marched  all  day  in  the  soft  snow  while  the  others  had 
had  a  comparatively  easy  time.  On  the  13th,  Scott 
again  remarks  that,  though  the  rest  would  be  in  a  poor 
way  without  ski.  Bowers  still  manages  to  struggle 
through  the  soft  snow  '  without  tiring  his  short  legs.' 
Next  day,  however,  he  seems  to  have  realised  that  the 
short  leg^'  were  tiring,  and  in  a  single  casual  remark, 
his  own  strength  and  self-sacrifice  are  allowed  to  slip 
out  as  if  they  were  nothing  unusual.  '  The  steering 
was  awfully  difficult  and  trying  ;  very  often  I  could 
see  nothing,  and  Bowers  on  my  shoulders  directed 
me.  Under  such  circumstances  it  is  an  immense 
help  to  be  pulling  on  ski.' 

On  the  14th,  Oates  was  feehng  the  cold,  but  all 
were  fit,  and  felt  that  they  might  pull  through  if  only 
they  could  have  a  few  days  of  fine  weather.  On  the 
15th,  they  made  their  last  depot,  and  with  the  sledge 
load  thus  reduced  they  did  over  twelve  miles  in  the 
day.  They  had  now  only  two  long  marches  to  reach 
the  Pole,  and  nine  days'  provisions  with  them,  so  that 
it  looked  a  certain  thing.  But  there  was  always 
'  the  appalling  possibility,  the  sight  of  the  Norwegian 
flag  forestalling  ours.'  This  dread  had  been  sleeping 
in  their  minds  all  through,  and  now  that  the  critical 
moment  was  upon  them  it  woke  up  and  became  restless. 

The  next  day,  January  16,  was  a  very  trying  one, 
tossing  them  from  hope  to  deep  disappointment.     In 


254  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

the  morning  they  marched  well  and  covered  seven  and  a 
half  miles.  In  the  afternoon  they  set  off  again  in  high 
spirits,  but  about  the  second  hour  of  the  march  Bowers 
sighted  what  he  feared  was  a  cairn,  though  he  argued 
that  it  must  be  a  sastrugus,  or  knob  of  snow-drift. 
Half  an  hour  later  he  detected  a  black  speck  ;  that,  at 
any  rate,  could  not  be  snow.  The  party  marched  on  it 
with  beating  hearts.  When  they  got  nearer  they  found 
that  it  was  a  black  flag  tied  to  a  sledge  bearer  and 
standing  straight  up  out  of  the  snow-field.  '  The 
worst  has  happened,'  writes  Scott,  '  or  nearly  the  worst.* 
We  can  imagine  the  mingled  curiosity  and  misery  with 
which  they  examined  the  place  ;  near  by  were  the 
remains  of  a  camp,  with  sledge  tracks  coming  and 
going,  and  ski  tracks,  and  traces  of  dogs'  paws — many 
dogs.  '  This  told  us  the  whole  story.  The  Norwegians 
have  forestalled  us  and  are  first  at  the  Pole.  It  is  a 
terrible  disappointment,  and  I  am  very  sorry  for  my 
loyal  companions.' 

But  they  finished  the  course  ;  that  went  without 
saying.  Next  day  they  started  at  7.30  ;  none  of  them 
had  slept  much  after  the  shock  of  such  a  discovery. 
For  some  way  they  followed  the  Norwegian  tracks — 
there  were  only  two  men,  as  far  as  they  could  make  out. 
Then  they  abandoned  this  trail,  which  was  going  too 
far  west,  and  finished  a  march  of  fourteen  miles  due 
south.  Now  that  the  hope  of  priority  was  gone,  the 
place  seemed  '  awful  and  terrible,'  but  they  had  a 
specially  good  meal — '  a  fat  Polar  hoosh  ' — and  little 
Bowers  laid  himself  out  to  get  sights  in  specially  difficult 
circumstances.  Scott  thought  of  the  struggle  home- 
wards, and  wrote :    '  I  wonder  if  we  can  do  it.' 

On   Thursday,  January    18,    they    summed   up  all 


ROBERT  SCOTT 


255 


their  observations  and  decided  that  they  must  be 
now  one  mile  beyond  the  Pole  and  three  miles  to  the 
right  of  it.  They  set  out  accordingly,  and  two  miles 
from  camp,  and  one  and  a  half  miles  from  the  Pole, 
they  found  a  small  tent  containing  a  record  of  Roald 


'  They  found  it  was  a  black  flag  tied  to  a  sledge  bearer. 


Amundsen  having  been  there  on  December  16,  1911, 
with  four  companions.  There  was  also  a  note  from 
Amundsen  to  Scott,  asking  him  to  forward  a  letter  to 
King  Haakon  ! 

Scott,  in  his  turn,  left  a  note  to  say  that  he  and  his 
party  had  visited  the  tent.  Meantime  Bowers  was 
photographing  and  Wilson  sketching.  Then  a  cairn 
was  built,  the  Union  Jack  was  hoisted,  and  the  party 


256  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

took  a  photograph  of  itself,  Bowers  pulHng  the  string. 
They  all  look  grim,  and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at ;  but 
they  were  not  grudging  honour  to  those  who  had  won 
the  race.  Scott's  entry  says  :  '  There  is  no  doubt  that 
our  predecessors  have  made  thoroughly  sure  of  their 
mark,  and  fully  carried  out  their  programme.'  He 
adds  :  '  Well,  we  have  turned  our  back  now  on  the  goal 
of  our  ambition,  and  must  face  our  800  miles  of  solid 
dragging — and  good-bye  to  most  of  the  day-dreams  ! ' 
He  did  not  foresee  that  the  dreams  would  long  survive 
the  dreamer. 

4.  The  Race  for  Life 

It  is  sometimes  assumed  that  self-preservation  is 
the  strongest  of  all  driving  forces  ;  we  hear  it  said  that 
a  man  was  seen  running  '  as  if  he  were  running  for 
his  life.'  But  with  men  of  real  power  it  would  seem 
that  their  greatest  efforts  are  made  not  when  they 
are  seeking  to  save  themselves,  but  when  they  are 
risking  everything  for  their  country  or  each  other,  or 
in  some  other  cause  of  honour  or  devotion.  Scott  and 
his  companions  are  certainly  an  example  of  this  ;  they 
marched  bravely  homeward  for  their  lives,  but  without 
that  strength  and  elation  which  had  sustained  them 
on  the  outward  journey,  when  they  were  inspired  by 
the  hope  of  winning  a  coveted  honour  for  the  country 
they  served.  And  they  died  without  misery,  because 
they  had  many  consolations,  such  as  do  not  come  to 
men  who  have  been  thinking  only  of  themselves.  They 
were  not  losing  all,  for  they  had  not  played  for  safety. 

They  started  back  on  January  19,  and  from  the 
first  they  found  the  journey  '  dreadfully  tiring  and 
monotonous.'     On   the   20th,  with  a  favourable  wind. 


ROBERT  SCOTT  257 

they  tried  sailing,  and  at  first  went  along  at  a  greatly- 
increased  pace  ;  but  they  soon  got  into  drifted  snow 
which  clogged  their  ski.  Bowers  was  even  worse  off, 
till  he  could  recover  his  ski ;  and  to-day  it  is  noted 
that  Gates  is  feeling  the  cold  more  than  the  others. 
Still  they  did  eighteen  and  a  half  miles,  and  talked  of 
catching  the  ship. 

Next  day  trouble  began  ;  a  blizzard  was  blowing 
in  the  morning ;  they  could  not  march  for  fear  of 
losing  the  track,  and  when  they  got  off  at  last  they 
could  only  do  six  miles.  On  the  22nd  their  march  of 
fourteen  and  a  half  miles  was  the  most  tiring  they  had 
yet  had,  and  their  ski  boots  began  to  show  signs  of  wear. 
On  the  23rd  they  sailed  again,  but  were  halted  by  the 
discovery  that  Evans'  nose  was  frost-bitten.  His  fingers, 
too,  were  badly  blistered,  and  he  was  very  much  annoyed 
with  himself,  which  was  not  a  good  sign.  Next  day 
they  were  stopped  again  by  a  blizzard.  '  I  don't 
like  the  look  of  it,'  says  Scott.  '  Is  the  weather  break- 
ing up  ?  If  so,  God  help  us.  ...  I  don't  like  the  easy 
way  in  which  Gates  and  Evans  get  frost-bitten.'  But 
next  day  those  two  were  as  bad  again,  and  Wilson  was 
suffering  tortures  from  his  eyes.  The  succession  of 
blizzards  seemed  likely  to  continue,  and  the  cold  damp 
they  brought  was  very  exhausting. 

Gn  the  27th  they  found  their  sleeping-bags  getting 
slowly  but  surely  wetter,  and  food  shorter.  Gn  the 
28th  they  were  hungrier  still,  and  getting  '  pretty 
thin,  especially  Evans,'  but  none  of  them  were  feeling 
worked  out.  Next  day  was  a  good  one,  wind  favour- 
able and  track  visible ;  but  on  the  30th,  troubles 
began  again.  Wilson  strained  a  tendon  in  his  leg, 
painfully  ;    he  w^as  very  plucky  over  it,  but  it  made 


258  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

Scott  serious,  for  the  lives  of  all  hung  on  the  health 
of  each — they  would  never  abandon  their  sick  or 
wounded.  '  To  add  to  the  trouble,'  he  writes,  '  Evans 
has  dislodged  two  finger-nails  to-night ;  his  hands 
are  really  bad,  and  to  my  surprise  he  shows  signs  of 
losing  heart  over  it.'  They  had  already  picked  up 
three  articles  dropped  on  the  way  out — Oates's  pipe, 
Bowers'  fur  mits,  and  Evans'  night  boots.  Now,  on 
the  31st,  they  found  Bowers'  ski,  left  behind  on 
December  31,  and  very  glad  they  were  to  recover  it. 
They  reached  Three  Degree  Depot,  too,  and  were  able 
to  increase  their  rations.  But  Scott's  anxiety  con- 
tinued, and  on  February  2  he  himself  became  a  casualty 
by  falling  heavily  on  a  very  slippery  surface  and  hurting 
his  shoulder.  There  were  now  three  injured  men  out 
of  five,  and  the  most  troublesome  surfaces  yet  to 
come. 

On  February  4,  Evans  fell  twice  ;  the  second  time 
Scott  fell  with  him,  into  a  crevasse.  After  this,  Evans 
became  '  rather  dull  and  incapable ' — he  had  con- 
cussion from  his  fall — and  next  day  he  was  '  a  good 
deal  crocked  up,'  with  his  nose  and  fingers  frost-bitten. 
He  was  now  the  chief  anxiety,  and  his  wounds  were 
going  wrong  ;  it  was  a  great  relief  when,  on  the  7th, 
the  Upper  Glacier  Depot  was  reached  and  the  Summit 
journey  was  ended.  '  I  think,'  says  Scott,  '  another 
week  might  have  had  a  very  bad  effect  on  P.O.  Evans, 
who  is  going  steadily  downhill.' 

They  were  now  about  to  get  on  to  rock  after  fourteen 
weeks  on  ice,  and  in  spite  of  their  fatigue  they  deter- 
mined not  to  neglect  the  scientific  side  of  their  enter- 
prise. Scott  steered  in  for  Mount  Darwin,  and  Bowers 
procured  specimens  of  the  rock,  a  close-grained  granite. 


ROBERT  SCOTT  259 

Then  they  went  down  the  moraine,  spending  the  whole 
day  geologising  among  seams  of  coal,  leaf -fossils 
pieces  of  limestone  from  no  one  knew  where,  and  lumps 
of  pure  white  quartz.  Altogether  a  most  interesting 
afternoon,  and  the  relief  of  being  out  of  the  wind  in- 
expressible. Two  good  days  and  nights  followed,  and 
Scott  notes  '  a  great  change  in  all  faces.' 

Then  came  a  week  of  disaster.  The  beginning  of 
it  was  a  fatal  decision  to  change  the  direction  of  the 
march  and  steer  east.  The  party  got  into  a  regular 
trap,  plunged  desperately  forward  on  ski  and  only 
recovered  the  track  after  twelve  hours  of  struggling. 
Some  miles  had  been  lost,  and  an  effort  had  to  be  made 
next  day  to  catch  up.  Again  a  wrong  turn  was  made, 
and  at  9  p.m.  they  camped  '  in  the  worst  place  of  all,' 
with  rations  running  low.  It  was  only  at  midday 
on  the  13th,  that  at  last  they  reached  Middle  Glacier 
Depot,  and  replenished  their  store. 

Next  day  they  could  only  do  six  and  a  half  miles. 
There  was  no  getting  away  from  the  fact  that  they  were 
not  going  strong.  Wilson's  leg  was  troublesome  ;  Evans 
had  blistered  a  foot  badly,  and  was  apparently  going 
from  bad  to  worse,  besides  suffering  from  want  of 
plentiful  food.  Two  days  more  and  he  was  nearly 
broken  down — absolutely  changed  from  his  normal 
self-reliant  self,  and  stopping  repeatedly  on  some 
trivial  excuse.  On  the  17th,  he  looked  a  little  better 
to  start  with — but  soon  worked  his  ski  shoes  adrift, 
and  had  to  leave  the  sledge.  An  hour  later  the  others 
waited  for  him,  and  he  came  up  very  slowly.  In 
another  half-hour  he  dropped  out  again,  and  was 
cautioned  by  Scott,  to  whom  he  replied  cheerfully. 
But  he  did  not  come  up  in  time  for  lunch,  and  the  others 


260     THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

all  went  back  for  him.  Scott  reached  him  first  and  was 
shocked  to  find  him  on  his  knees,  with  hands  un- 
covered and  frost-bitten,  and  a  wild  look  in  his  eyes. 
He  could  only  say  that  he  thought  he  had  fainted. 
Wilson,  Bowers  and  Scott  went  back  for  the  sledge, 
Gates  remained  with  him ;  before  he  could  be  got 
away  he  was  unconscious,  and  by  half  an  hour  after 
midnight  he  was  dead.  It  was  a  terrible  thing  for 
a  small  party  in  such  extreme  danger  to  lose  a  com- 
panion and  friend,  and  it  hardly  made  it  less  terrible 
to  reflect  that  there  could  not  have  been  a  better 
ending  to  the  anxieties  of  the  past  week.  With  a 
sick  man  on  their  hands  at  such  a  distance  from  home, 
the  plight  of  all  would  have  been  too  desperate  for 
endurance. 

5.  The  Last  March 

After  the  terrible  event  at  Lower  Glacier  Depot, 
the  four  survivors  gave  themselves  five  hours'  sleep 
and  then  went  to  their  old  Shambles  Camp.  There  they 
found  plenty  of  horse  beef,  and  with  the  increased 
rations  new  life  seemed  to  come  at  once.  They  took 
another  good  night's  sleep  and  spent  the  next  morning 
in  shifting  to  a  new  sledge  and  fitting  it  up  with  mast 
and  sail.  In  the  afternoon  they  started  again  with 
renewed  hope.  But  the  surface  proved  to  be  as  bad 
as  their  worst  fears — soft,  loose  snow  like  desert  sand, 
and  a  long  struggle  only  brought  them  four  and  a  half 
miles  forward. 

That  evening  Scott  balanced  his  chances.  In  some 
ways  things  were  improving — the  sleeping-bags  were 
drying,  and  the  party  had  better  food  and  better  health. 
The  uncertain  element  was  the  weather ;    the  lateness 


ROBERT  SCOTT 


261 


of  the  season  caused  some  little  alarm,  and  the  distance 
to  be  done  was  still  formidable  ;  the  four  stages,  to  South 
Barrier  Depot,  Middle  Barrier  Depot,  Mount  Hooper, 
and  One  Ton  Depot,  would  take  seven  days  each — not 


'  Scott  reached  him  first,' 


less,  and  quite  possibly  more.  Beyond  that  there  were 
two  more  stages,  to  Bluff  Depot  and  Corner  Camp  ; 
but  these  were  not  counted,  for  at  One  Ton  Depot, 
if  not  earlier,  they  would  find  Cherry -Garrard  waiting 
for  them  with  the  dogs.  One  Ton  Depot  was  therefore 
the  goal ;  there  lay  safety,  and  they  had  a  month  to 
reach  it. 


262     THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

By  the  end  of  the  fourth  day,  February  22,  the 
position  looked  gloomy ;  everything  depended  on 
finding  and  keeping  the  old  track  from  cairn  to  cairn, 
and  already  they  had  lost  it.  They  found  it  again 
next  day,  thanks  to  Bowers'  wonderful  sharp  eyes, 
and  reached  the  depot  on  the  24th  up  to  time.  But 
there  were  causes  for  depression.  A  note  left  for  them 
by  Lieutenant  Edward  Evans  sounded  anxious — he 
was  already,  though  he  did  not  say  so,  stricken  with 
scurvy.  Then  Wilson  was  suffering  fearfully  from 
snow  blindness  ;  and  there  was  an  unexpected  and 
very  alarming  shortage  of  fuel,  the  oil  in  store  having 
leaked  from  the  effect  of  extreme  cold.  '  It  is  a  race,' 
says  Scott,  '  between  the  season  and  hard  conditions, 
and  our  fitness  and  good  food.'  Four  days  later  he 
adds :  '  There  is  no  doubt  the  middle  of  the  Barrier  is 
a  pretty  awful  locality.'  But  on  March  1  they  reached 
Middle  Barr.er  Depot  in  bright  sunshine  and  nearly 
up  to  time. 

But  at  this  point  the  tide  turned  against  them — 
ominously  at  first,  and  then,  as  they  struggled  on,  so 
strongly  and  definitely  that  nothing  was  left  for  personal 
hope,  only  loyalty  to  each  other  and  the  determination 
to  hold  up  the  standard  of  English  honour  and  en- 
durance. '  First,'  says  Scott,  '  we  found  a  shortage 
of  oil ;  with  most  rigid  economy  it  can  scarcely  carry 
us  to  the  next  depot.  Second,  Titus  Oates  disclosed 
his  feet,  the  toes  showing  very  bad  indeed,  evidently 
bitten  by  the  late  temperatures.  The  third  blow  came 
in  the  night,  when  the  wind,  which  we  had  hailed  with 
some  joy,  brought  dark  overcast  weather.  It  fell  below 
— 40°  in  the  night,  and  this  morning  it  took  1|  hours  to 
get  our  foot  gear  on.' 


ROBERT  SCOTT  263 

But  their  courage  was  unbroken.  On  March  3  they 
pulled  four  and  a  quarter  hours  and  only  covered  four  and 
a  half  miles.  Scott's  Journal  becomes  more  and  more 
wonderful  as  things  get  worse.  '  God  help  us,  we  can't 
keep  up  this  pulling,  that  is  certain.  Amongst  ourselves 
we  are  unendingly  cheerful,  but  what  each  man  feels  in 
his  heart  I  can  only  guess.'  His  great  anxiety  now  was 
for  Oates's  health  ;  a  possible  further  shortage  of  fuel 
at  the  next  depot  combined  with  a  snap  of  colder 
weather  would  probably  be  more  than  he  could  stand. 
'  I  don't  know  what  I  should  do,'  Scott  writes,  '  if 
Wilson  and  Bowers  were  not  so  determinedly  cheerful 
over  things.' 

On  March  5  the  entry  is  more  depressed ;  '  Our  fuel 
dreadfully  low  and  the  poor  Soldier  nearly  done.  We 
none  of  us  expected  these  terribly  low  temperatures, 
and  of  the  rest  of  us  Wilson  is  feeling  them  most — mainly, 
I  fear,  from  his  self-sacrificing  devotion  in  doctoring 
Oates's  feet.  .  .  .  The  others,  all  of  them,  are  un- 
endingly cheerful  when  in  the  tent.'  On  March  6: 
*  Poor  Oates  is  unable  to  pull — sits  on  the  sledge  when 
we  are  track  searching — he  is  wonderfully  plucky,  as 
his  feet  must  be  giving  him  great  pain.  He  makes  no 
complaint,  but  his  spirits  only  come  up  in  spurts  now, 
and  he  grows  more  silent  in  the  tent.'  On  March  7: 
'  One  of  Oates's  feet  very  bad  this  morning ;  he  is 
wonderfully  brave.  We  still  talk  of  what  we  will  do 
together  at  home.' 

On  the  9th  they  reached  Mount  Hooper  Depot,  and 
found  a  shortage  of  stores  all  round.  Scott  says 
stoutly :  '  I  don't  know  that  anyone  is  to  blame.  The 
dogs  which  would  have  been  our  salvation  have  evi- 
dently failed.'     He  was  right  there;    the  dogs  under 


264    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

Cherry-Garrard  had  been  waiting  at  One  Ton  Depot, 
held  up  by  a  four-day  bhzzard ;  then,  having  ex- 
hausted their  spare  provisions,  they  were  obliged  to 
turn  back.  No  one  was  to  blame,  and  Scott's  freedom 
from  bitterness  is  one  more  proof  of  his  greatness  as 
a  leader. 

The  entry  for  Sunday,  March  11,  runs  as  follows  : 
'  Titus  Gates  is  very  near  the  end,  one  feels.  What 
he  or  we  will  do,  God  only  knows.  We  discussed  the 
matter  after  breakfast ;  he  is  a  fine  brave  fellow  and 
understands  the  situation,  but  he  practically  asked 
for  advice.  Nothing  could  be  said  but  to  urge  him 
to  march  as  long  as  he  could.  One  satisfactory  result 
to  the  discussion  ;  I  practically  ordered  Wilson  to  hand 
over  the  means  of  ending  our  troubles  to  us,  so  that 
any  one  of  us  may  know  how  to  do  so.  Wilson  had 
no  choice  between  doing  so  and  our  ransacking  the 
medicine  case.  We  have  30  opium  tabloids  apiece, 
and  he  is  left  with  a  tube  of  morphine.  So  far  the 
tragical  side  of  our  story.'  This  is  not  a  passage  that 
can  be  enlarged  upon  in  words  ;  but  the  more  deeply 
it  is  penetrated  the  more  clearly  will  be  seen  the 
characteristic  gifts  of  the  man  who  wrote  it — wisdom, 
loyalty,  delicacy,  and  self-restraint. 

So  far  as  it  was  possible  for  him  to  tell  the  rest 
of  the  story,  he  tells  it  incomparably.  '  Wednesday, 
March  14. — We  must  go  on,  but  now  the  making  of 
every  camp  must  be  more  difficult  and  dangerous. 
It  must  be  near  the  end,  but  a  pretty  merciful  end. 
Poor  Gates  got  it  again  in  the  foot.  I  shudder  to 
think  what  it  will  be  like  to-morrow.  .  .  .  Truly  awful 
outside  the  tent.  Must  fight  it  out  to  the  last  biscuit, 
but  can't  reduce  rations.' 


ROBERT  SCOTT  265 

The  next  entry  is  three  days  later.  '  Friday, 
March  16,  or  Saturday,  17. — Lost  track  of  dates,  but 
think  the  last  correct.  Tragedy  all  along  the  line. 
At  lunch,  the  day  before  yesterday,  poor  Titus  Gates 
said  he  couldn't  go  on  ;  he  proposed  we  should  leave 
him  in  his  sleeping-bag.  That  we  could  not  do,  and 
induced  him  to  come  on,  on  the  afternoon  march. 
In  spite  of  its  awful  nature  for  him  he  struggled  on, 
and  we  made  a  few  miles.  At  night  he  was  worse,  and 
we  knew  that  the  end  had  come.  Should  this  be 
found  I  want  these  facts  recorded.  Oates's  last 
thoughts  were  of  his  mother,  but  immediately  before 
he  took  pride  in  thinking  that  his  regiment  would 
be  pleased  with  the  bold  way  in  which  he  met  his 
death.  We  can  testify  to  his  bravery.  He  has  borne 
intense  suffering  for  weeks  without  complaint,  and  to 
the  very  last  was  able  and  willing  to  discuss  outside 
subjects.  He  did  not — would  not — give  up  hope  to 
the  very  end.  He  Avas  a  brave  soul.  This  was  the  end. 
He  slept  through  the  night  before  last,  hoping  not 
to  wake  ;  but  he  woke  in  the  morning — yesterday. 
It  was  blowing  a  blizzard.  He  said  '  I  am  just 
going  outside  and  may  be  some  time.'  He  went  out 
into  the  blizzard  and  we  have  not  seen  him  since.  .  .  . 
We  knew  that  poor  Gates  was  walking  to  his  death, 
but  though  we  tried  to  dissuade  him  we  knew  it  was 
the  act  of  a  brave  man  and  an  English  gentleman. 
We  all  hope  to  meet  the  end  with  a  similar  spirit,  and 
assuredly  the  end  is  not  far.' 

It  was  not  far.  By  lunch  next  day  the  three 
survivors  were  twenty-one  miles  from  the  depot,  and 
nearly  worn  out.  Scott's  right  foot  had  now  gone — 
two  days  before  he  had  been  the  fittest,  but  a  spoonful  of 


266    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

curry  powder  with  his  pemmican  had  caused  indigestion 
and  the  inevitable  frost-bite  had  followed.  Amputa- 
tion was  now  the  least  he  could  hope  for,  and  that  only 
if  the  deadness  did  not  spread. 

On  March  19  the  party  reached  their  sixtieth  camp 
from  the  Pole,  and  were  within  eleven  miles  of  safety. 
But  there  the  blizzard  stopped  them.  As  a  forlorn 
hope,  Wilson  and  Bowers  proposed  to  go  on  and  bring 
back  fuel  for  Scott ;  but  the  blizzard  made  this  im- 
possible. On  the  night  of  the  23rd,  death  stared  them 
straight  in  the  face  ;  they  had  no  fuel  left,  and  only 
two  days'  food.  '  Must  be  near  the  end,'  writes  Scott. 
*  Have  decided  it  shall  be  natural — we  shall  march  for 
the  depot  and  die  in  our  tracks.' 

This  was  not  possible.  On  the  29th  they  were 
still  there,  still  blizzard-bound,  still  just  alive,  still 
undefeated  in  spirit.  Scott's  last  entry  is  in  keeping 
with  all  that  he  has  written  in  his  Journal.  '  Every 
day  we  have  been  ready  to  start  for  our  depot  11  miles 
away,  but  outside  the  door  of  the  tent  it  remains  a  scene 
of  whirling  drift.  I  do  not  think  we  can  hope  for  any 
better  things  now.  We  shall  stick  it  out  to  the  end, 
but  we  are  getting  weaker,  of  course,  and  the  end 
cannot  be  far.  It  seems  a  pity,  but  I  do  not  think 
I  can  write  more. 

*R.  Scott. 

'  For  God's  sake  look  after  our  people.' 

When  the  search  party  reached  the  place  eight 
months  later,  Wilson  and  Bowers  were  found  lying 
quite  naturally,  shut  up  in  their  sleeping-bags.  Scott, 
the  master  spirit,  had  died  later  ;  he  had  thrown  back 
the  flaps  of  his  sleeping-bag  and  opened  his  coat.     His 


ROBERT  SCOTT  267 

arm  was  flung  across  Wilson,  as  if  in  a  last  gesture  of 
affection. 

In  the  tent,  besides  his  Journal,  he  had  left  farewell 
letters  to  his  friends  and  family,  and  a  message  to  the 
Public,  giving  an  estimate  of  the  disaster  and  its  causes. 
All  these  are  of  the  same  admirable  quality — varying 
tones  of  the  same  unshaken  voice.  These  passages 
will  exemplify  all. 

*  I  want  to  tell  you  that  we  have  missed  getting 
through  by  a  narrow  margin  which  was  justifiably 
within  the  risk  of  such  a  journey.  .  .  .  After  all,  we 
have  given  our  lives  for  our  country — we  have 
actually  made  the  longest  journey  on  record,  and  we 
have  been  the  first  Englishmen  at  the  South  Pole. 
You  must  understand  that  it  is  too  cold  to  write 
much. 

'  It's  a  pity  the  luck  doesn't  come  our  way, 
because  every  detail  of  equipment  is  right.  I  shall 
not  have  suffered  any  pain,  but  leave  the  world 
fresh  from  harness  and  full  of  good  health  and 
vigour. 

'  Since  writing  the  above  we  got  to  within  11  miles 
of  our  depot,  with  one  hot  meal  and  two  days'  cold 
food.  We  should  have  got  through  but  have  been  held 
for  jour  days  by  a  frightful  storm.  I  think  the  best 
chance  has  gone.  We  have  decided  not  to  kill  ourselves, 
but  to  fight  to  the  last  for  that  depot,  but  in  the  fighting 
there  is  a  painless  end. 

'  Make  the  boy  interested  in  natural  history  if  you 
can  ;  it  is  better  than  games  ;  they  encourage  it  at 
some  schools.  I  know  you  will  keep  him  in  the  open 
air.  Above  all,  he  must  guard,  and  you  must  guard 
him,  against  indolence.     Make  him  a   strenuous   man. 


268    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

I  had  to  force  myself  into  being  strenuous,  as  you  know 
— had  always  an  inclination  to  be  idle. 

'  What  lots  and  lots  I  could  tell  you  of  this  journey. 
How  much  better  it  has  been  than  lounging  in  too  great 
comfort  at  home.' 


VIII.    ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON 

1.  The  Mountains  of  the  Moon 

The  scientific  temperament  and  the  exploring  impulse 
go  well  together,  and  when  both  are  inherited  they 
make  a  very  strong  combination.  Alexander  Wollaston 
is  a  typical  example.  His  father,  George  Hyde  Wol- 
laston, came  of  an  old  Midland  family,  with  a  name  well 
known  in  the  scientific  world  for  some  two  centuries  : 
a  lover  of  science  and  of  languages,  and  so  accomplished 
a  traveller  that  though  typically  English  in  character 
and  of  Scandinavian  stature  and  appearance,  he  was 
frequently  mistaken  by  the  natives  of  Switzerland  and 
Italy  for  one  of  themselves,  when  he  came  wandering 
among  them.  He  was  for  many  years  a  master  at 
Clifton,  and  it  was  there  that  his  son  was  born  in  1875. 
Sandy,  as  his  friends  called  him,  in  his  early  youth 
made  choice  of  the  medical  profession.  He  went  from 
Clifton  to  King's  College,  Cambridge,  then  to  the  London 
Hospital,  and  became  in  due  course  a  qualified  member 
of  the  College  of  Surgeons  and  the  College  of  Physicians. 
But  if  he  ever  thought  of  passing  his  life  as  an  ordinary 
doctor  he  was  reckoning  without  his  ancestors.  The 
first  bit  of  work  that  came  his  way  was  the  chance  to  go  as 
surgeon  with  a  private  expedition  to  the  Soudan.  This 
was  decisive ;  as  in  Younghusband's  case,  the  inherited 
impulse  rushed  to  the  front,  took  charge  of  the  rest  of 
his  character,  and  made  a  career  for  him.     He  returned 

269 


270  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAH. 

from  the  Soudan  only  to  start  again  for  Lapland,  and 
after  that  to  the  Far  East.  In  short,  he  became  an 
inveterate  traveller.  There  are  by  now  few  regions  in 
which  he  has  not  discovered  or  observed  birds,  beasts* 
and  flowers,  and  the  names  of  the  out-of-the-way  cities, 
coasts,  and  islands  where  he  has  been  reported  from 
time  to  time  would  make  quite  a  pattern  on  the  map 
of  the  world.  Finally  his  war  service  as  a  naval  surgeon 
took  him  up  into  the  Arctic  Circle,  down  to  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  and  German  East  Africa,  and  up  again 
to  Murmansk  and  Archangel. 

But  of  all  these  travels  we  have  at  present  no  account, 
and  it  is  time  to  turn  to  the  two  books  which  contain 
the  record  of  his  adventures  in  Equatorial  Africa  and 
in  New  Guinea.  They  cover  the  six  years  1905  to  1911, 
which  may  be  called  the  years  of  his  apprenticeship, 
for  in  them  he  was  learning  the  business  of  a  scientific 
expedition  of  discovery,  and  qualifying  himself  for  the 
position  of  leader  which  fell  to  him  afterwards.  The 
first  of  these  two  expeditions  was  called  '  The  Ruwenzori 
Expedition,'  and  to  give  any  account  of  it  we  must 
begin  by  explaining  what  and  where  is  Ruwenzori,  and 
why  it  was  a  good  objective  for  scientific  discoverers. 

Down  to  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century  very 
little  was  known  by  Europeans  of  the  vast  range  of 
mountains  which  lies  between  the  lakes  Albert  Edward 
and  Albert  Nyanza.  It  was,  as  Wollaston  says,  '  the 
least  known  mountain  region  in  Africa.'  The  first 
white  man  to  see  it  was  probably  Sir  Samuel  Baker 
in  1864  ;  he  describes  a  distant  view  of  a  range  which 
he  saw  while  exploring  Lake  Albert.  He  calls  it  '  The 
Blue  Mountains  to  the  South ' — he  knew  no  other  name 
for    it,   and  he  was  evidently  not    aware  of  its   true 


ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON  271 

character.  *  It  was  not  until  1887,  when  Stanley  came 
from  the  Congo  on  the  Emin  Relief  Expedition,  that 
the  mountains  were  definitely  recognised  as  a  snow 
range,  and  for  very  nearly  twenty  years  more  they 
remained  as  little  known  and  as  mysterious  as  ever.' 
Attempts  were  made  on  several  occasions  to  penetrate 
into  what  were  now  known  as  '  The  Mountains  of  the 
Moon,'  but  they  were  made  by  amateurs  or  by  parties 
with  other  objects  in  view,  who  turned  aside  to  try  a 
formidable  adventure  for  which  they  were  not  fully 
equipped.  The  first  of  these  attempts  was  made  in 
1889  by  Lieutenant  Stairs,  a  member  of  Stanley's  own 
expedition  ;  but  he  only  succeeded  in  reaching  a  height 
of  10,677  feet  on  one  of  the  western  slopes  of  the  range. 
In  1891  Dr.  Stuhlmann  did  a  little  better;  he  ascended 
13,326  feet  on  the  same  side  and  took  photographs  of 
the  highest  peaks,  but  he  failed  to  reach  the  snow-line. 
Scott  Elliot  followed  in  1895  in  the  same  direction,  and 
also  explored  four  valleys  on  the  eastern  side,  reaching 
the  watershed  in  two  different  places ;  but  he  too 
stopped  short  of  the  snow  level.  The  first  real  success 
was  achieved  in  1900  by  J.  E.  S.  Moore,  known  as 
*  Tanganyika  Meore  '  :  he  climbed  to  the  summit  of 
one  of  the  ridges  of  Kiyanja  (Mount  Baker),  thereby 
reaching  the  snow  and  proving  beyond  doubt  the 
existence  of  glaciers  in  this  huge  chain. 

This  discovery  only  made  the  mountains  more 
attractive  to  adventurers.  Sir  Harry  Johnston  followed 
Tanganyika  Moore  in  the  same  year  and  reached  almost 
the  same  point.  Three  years  later  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fischer 
climbed  to  the  foot  of  the  Mubuku  glacier — the  first 
and  only  time  a  European  woman  has  readied  the 
snow  line  in  these  mountains.     Then  in  1905  a  really 


272     THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

serious  attempt  was  made  by  a  party  of  skilled  moun- 
taineers, headed  by   Mr.  Douglas  Freshfield,  President 
of  the   Alpine  Club,  with  Mr.  Arnold   Mumm,   and   a 
Swiss  guide  from  Zermatt.     It  seemed  impossible  that 
so  well  equipped  an  expedition  could  fail ;    but  they 
were   misinformed   as   to  the   rainy   season,  and   were 
completely  defeated  by  wet  and  foggy  weather.     Two 
months  later  Herr  Grauer  and  a  party  of  missionaries 
climbed  a  ridge  14,813  feet  high,  and  an  Englishman, 
Mr.  R.  B.  Woosnam,  reached  the  same  point  a   week 
or  two  after  them,  while  cHmbing  alone  to  collect  birds. 
It  will  be  seen  from  this  short  summary  how  little 
and  how  much  had  been  achieved  in  the  twenty  years. 
The  Mountains  of  the  Moon  (now  known  by  the  name 
of  'Ruwenzori')  had  become  famous,  but  they  had  not 
yet  been  climbed  or  mapped,  nor  had  their  wild  life 
been  scientifically  examined  ;    the  region  was   still   a 
virgin  stronghold  of  nature,  a  vast  chain  of  fortresses 
waiting  for  the  conquerors  who  must  come,  sooner  or 
later,  from  the  Old  World.     Two  things,  however,  were 
certain — these  mountains,  with  their  snowy  peaks   of 
nearly   17,000  feet,  were  an  objective  worthy  of  the 
best  mountaineers  of  Europe,  and  it  would  take  both 
skill  and  courage  to  attack  them  ;   secondly,  there  could 
be  no  doubt  that  a  range  so  wide,  so  lofty,  and  so  isolated 
must  be  the  home  of    an   immense   number   of  trees, 
flowers,  and  birds,  many  of  which  would  probably  be 
new  to  the  explorer.     It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that 
expeditions  were  being  proposed  or  discussed  in  several 
quarters  ;    and  two  were  in  fact  starting  almost  at  the 
same  moment,  one  from  Italy  and  one  from  England. 
The  Duke  of  the  Abruzzi,  an  experienced  climber  with 
every  possible  resource  and  equipment,  was  bent  on 


ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON  273 

making  the  first  ascent  of  the  highest  peaks  ;  and  a 
British  party,  organised  by  Mr.  W.  R.  Ogilvie  Grant  of 
the  British  (Natural  History)  Museum,  was  being  sent 
out  to  collect  specimens  of  the  fauna  and  flora  of  the 
district.  This  work,  though  it  involved  of  course  a 
great  deal  of  climbing  in  new  and  rough  places,  was 
not  intended  to  include  proiessional  mountaineering 
ascents.  But  when  Mr.  Woosnam,  the  leader  of  the 
expedition,  engaged  Dr.  Wollaston  to  go  with  him 
as  medical  officer  and  botanical  and  entomological 
collector,  he  was,  in  fact,  whether  he  knew  it  or  not, 
entering  his  party  for  the  great  Ruwenzori  race,  for 
Wollaston  was  a  keen  member  of  the  Alpine  Club,  an 
experienced  climber,  and  destined,  though  he  did  not 
win  outright,  to  give  the  Duke  of  the  Abruzzi  the  lead 
which  was  necessary  for  success. 

2.  The  Journey  Out 

The  British  Museum  Expedition  was  just  starting 
from  England  in  October  1905,  when  Wollaston  heard 
of  it  for  the  first  time  and  hurried  off  to  Mr.  Ogihie 
Grant  to  offer  his  services.  Fortunately  the  place  of 
doctor  and  botanist  was  just  the  one  which  remained 
unfilled,  and  he  was  told  that  he  could  make  his  pre- 
parations thoroughly  and  follow  by  the  next  boat  in 
a  month's  time.  There  were  difficulties — he  had  just 
accepted  a  tamer  appointment  at  home ;  but  he  begged 
off  that  and  followed  his  manifest  destiny.  Early  in 
November  he  took  ship  from  Genoa  for  Mombasa.  It 
was  a  vile  ship,  the  Reichspostdampfer  Markgraf, 
uncomfortable,  unclean,  and  unsafe,  and  it  seemed 
odd  that  for  an  Englishman  going  to  an  English  Colony 


274    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

the  only  choice  should  lie  between  the  Austrian  Lloyd, 
the  French  Messageries  Maritimes,  and  the  German 
East  African  Line.  But  that  was  part  of  the  old 
order  of  things,  and  so  too  was  the  fact  that  when 
Mombasa  was  reached,  on  the  twentieth  day  out,  the 
only  three  steamers  to  be  seen  in  the  harbour  were  all 
flying  the  German  flag.  No  one  can  ever  say  that  we 
kept  our  Empire  to  ourselves. 

From  Mombasa  Wollaston  went  inland,  of  course 
by  the  Uganda  railway,  through  a  country  swarming 
with  hartebeestes,  wildebeestes,  gazelles,  ostriches,  and 
zebras,  and  haunted  too,  though  less  visibly,  by  lions, 
leopards,  rhinoceros,  and  giraffes.  Beyond  Nairobi  came 
the  surprise  of  the  journey — '  the  lovely  and  mysterious 
Lake  Naivasha.'  The  mystery  does  not  lie  in  the 
great  slumbering  volcano  of  Longonot,  with  its  lava- 
covered  slopes  scored  by  the  rains  into  a  thousand 
gullies,  nor  in  the  jets  of  steam  which  spout  up  through 
the  scrub,  nor  in  the  springs  of  boiling  water.  But 
here  is  a  lake  of  beautiful  fresh  water,  with  no  apparent 
outlet  ;  even  in  the  heaviest  rains  or  the  longest  drought 
it  keeps  an  almost  equal  level,  hardly  rising  or  falling 
at  all ;  and  there  are  many  stories  told  by  the  natives 
of  underground  rivers  and  of  water  heard  falling  into 
vast  caverns.  There  is  a  mystery  too  about  the  origin 
ot  the  lake,  and  it  is  said  that  the  grandfather  of  the 
oldest  inhabitant  remembered  a  time  when  there  was 
no  lake  there 

Anyhow  there  it  is  now,  and  Wollaston  fell  in  love 
with  it  at  first  sight.  '  To  the  wandering  naturalist,' 
he  says,  '  Naivasha  is  one  of  the  happy  hunting  grounds 
that  he  has  dreamed  of  but  never  hoped  to  see.'  There 
on  an  island  towards  the  south-east  corner  of  the  lake 


ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON  275 

he  camped  for  a  short  time,  a  mile  from  the  mainland 
and  right  in  the  midst  of  long-legged  stilts  and  whistling 
greenshanks  and  English  willow-wrens,  and  herons  and 
ibises  and  waterbuck,  and  hippos  crushing  and  grunting 
through  the  reed  beds.  '  The  margin  of  the  lake  is 
fringed  with  sedges,  tall  reeds,  and  papyrus  ;  beyond 
the  papyrus  is  a  marvel  of  water-lilies,  pink  and  white 
and  blue,  but  mostly  blue.  Where  the  shallows  extend 
far  into  the  lake,  there  may  be  near  a  mile  of  water- 
lilies.  In  the  morning,  when  the  breeze  ruffles  the  water 
and  breaks  up  the  reflections,  the  green  of  the  trans- 
lucent up-turned  leaves,  the  blue  of  the  flowers,  the 
orange  of  the  submerged  stems  and  the  almost  amethyst 
light  of  the  water,  together  make  a  very  opal  of  colour.' 
And  though  the  days  are  beautiful  the  nights  are  even 
better  still ;  for  then  in  the  short  twilight  hour  the 
animal  world  is  all  astir.  The  baboons  chatter  in  the 
rocks,  the  geese  are  heard  among  the  reeds,  the  jackals 
wake  up  and  trot  over  the  plain,  the  water-bucks  go 
to  their  favourite  salt  licks,  the  herons  pass  overhead 
to  their  fishing,  and  from  the  distance  comes  '  the 
unearthly  howl  of  hyenas  and  the  discontented  grunt 
of  a  lion.'  In  fact  for  Wollaston  it  was  Paradise,  and 
he  would  have  liked  to  spend  a  lifetime  there.  But 
the  railway  recalled  him  and  took  him  westward  again 
into  the  Kavirondo  country,  a  hot  region  full  of  fine 
natives  very  lightly  attired — the  men  in  ear-rings, 
the  women  in  strings  of  beads  and  elegant  coils  of 
telegraph  wire.  And  in  no  long  time  the  train  ran  on 
to  the  pier  at  Port  Florence  on  the  Victoria  Nyanza, 
and  a  dusky  official  called  out  '  All  change  !  '  to  the 
one  and  only  passenger. 

After  this  the  journey  was  more  comfortable.     A 


276    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

perfect  little  ocean  steamship,  complete  with  white 
paint,  glistening  brasswork,  electric  lights  and  an  Indian 
cook,  took  the  passenger  across  the  lake  to  Entebbe, 
the  capital  of  Uganda  ;  and  from  there  he  started  again 
on  Christmas  Eve  in  a  two-runner  rickshaw  attended 
by  a  gang  of  native  porters.  A  fortnight's  march 
brought  him  to  Toro,  or  Fort  Portal,  the  capital  of 
the  Western  Province  of  Uganda,  and  the  most  westerly 
British  post.  From  here  he  got  his  first  sight  of 
Ruwenzori — '  a  mighty  wall  of  forest-covered  ridges, 
which  mount  higher  towards  the  south  and  dwindle 
away  towards  the  northern  plains  like  a  headland  in 
the  sea  ;  deep  valleys  filled  with  trees  and  shadows  ; 
in  the  far  distance  a  towering  mass  of  jagged  rocks 
crinkled  against  the  sky  ;  and  over-topping  all  can  just 
be  seen  two  snow-clad  peaks.'  Here  too  he  discovered 
that  the  name  Ruwenzori  is  not  known  in  that  country 
at  all :  it  is  a  word  of  our  own,  '  the  mis-spelt  corruption 
of  a  native  word  of  very  doubtful  meaning.'  It  is 
however  now  a  historic  name,  and  a  better  sounding 
•one  than  '  Gamballagalla,'  by  which  the  mountains 
are  known  to  the  people  of  Uganda. 

After  leaving  Toro  the  road  went  up  hill,  but  the 
continual  haze  completely  hid  Ruwenzori  for  some  days, 
till  one  morning  Wollaston  was  roused  from  sleep  by  loud 
cries  of  '  Gamballagalla  !  '  and  saw  the  range  close  above 
him — first  a  mountain  valley  with  wooded  ridges  ;  above 
this  a  bold  buttress  of  sheer  black  crags,  and  beyond 
these  a  towering  snow  peak.  '  Poised  almost  upon  the 
topmost  pinnacle  was  the  setting  moon,  a  few  days  past 
the  full.  Whilst  we  looked  the  moon  sank  out  of  sight 
and  a  rosy  flush  spread  over  the  ice  and  snow.  A  few 
moments  more  and  the  snow  had  vanished  like  a  puff 


ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON  277 

of  smoke  ;  a  flood  of  sunlight  turned  the  black  crags 
to  a  flaming  orange,  and  the  grass  in  the  valley  glittered 
with  a  million  drops  of  dew.'  A  few  minutes  later  he 
was  fording  the  Mubuku  river  waist  deep  :  then  the 
valley  narrowed  suddenly,  and  turning  a  sharp  corner 
he  came  in  sight  of  his  journey's  end,  the  camp  of 
the  British  Museum  Expedition,  perched  high  upon 
a  ridge  before  him.  An  hour's  steep  climb,  and  his 
porters  had  dumped  down  the  loads  they  had  carried 
for  250  miles,  and  were  off  for  home,  dancing  and 
cheering  down  the  hill. 


8.  The  Conquest  of  Ruwenzohi 

The  other  members  of  the  British  Museum  party, 
who  had  arrived  three  weeks  before,  were  Mr.  R.  B. 
Woosnam,  late  of  the  Worcestershire  Regiment  and 
now  leader  of  the  expedition,  Mr.  R.  E.  Dent,  the  Hon. 
Gerald  Legge,  and  Mr.  W.  D.  Carruthers.  Their  camp  was 
close  to  the  native  village  of  Bihunga,  on  a  ridge  so  narrow 
that  '  if  one  had  tried  to  pitch  another  tent,  it  would 
assuredly  have  fallen  over  the  edge  into  one  of  the  valleys 
below.'  The  natives  ot  Bihunga  were  timid  at  first, 
but  soon  found  that  they  could  make  a  living  out  of 
the  strangers,  by  hunting  and  bringing  in  beasts  of  any 
kind — hy raxes,  gigantic  rats,  bats,  mice,  worms,  beetles, 
chameleons,  and  snakes.  These  various  creatures  they 
did  not  touch,  if  they  could  help  it,  but  brought  them 
tethered  with  fibres  or  wrapped  in  leaves.  '  One  of  the 
most  curious  things  that  was  brought  was  a  single  small 
beetle  tied  to  a  stick  by  a  most  ingenious  harness  about 
its  middle  ;  it  was  a  common  species,  of  which  we  had 
many  specimens,  but  it  was  bought  and  put  to  death 


278    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

for  the  sake  of  its  harness,  and  now  (I  hope)  it  adorns 
the  national  collection.' 

As  botanist  too  Wollaston  had  a  wonderful  time. 
The  flowers  of  Ruwenzori  are  almost  beyond  belief,  if 
only  for  their  giant  size.  Begonias  are  two  feet  high, 
lobelias  and  tree-ferns  twelve  to  fifteeen  feet,  brambles 
have  flowers  two  inches  across,  and  fruit  as  big  as  walnuts. 
Groundsels  and  St.  John's  wort  grow  to  twenty  feet. 
But  the  heath  is  the  most  astonishing  of  all :  '  The 
reader  must  imagine  a  stem  of  the  common  "  ling  " 
magnified  to  a  height  of  sixty  or  seventy  or  even  eighty 
feet,  but  bearing  leaves  and  flowers  hardly  larger  than 
those  of  the  "  ling  "  as  it  grows  in  England.  Huge 
cushions  of  many-coloured  mosses,  often  a  foot  or  more 
deep,  encircle  the  trunks  and  larger  branches,  while 
the  finer  twigs  are  festooned  with  long  beards  of  dry 
lichen,  which  give  to  the  trees  an  unspeakably  dreary 
and  funereal  aspect.'  Add  to  all  these  wonders  the 
beauty  of  great  clumps  of  brilliant  flowers — red  and 
yellow  gloriosa  lilies,  white  and  yellow  daisies  and 
helichrysums,  purple-flowered  acanthus,  tall  white 
dombeyas,  and  papilionaceous  bushes  with  yellow 
flowers  and  long  black  seed  pods  ;  and  remember  that 
above  and  beyond  these  there  were  always  the  green 
ridges  of  the  mountain  forest  and  the  towering  peaks 
of  rock  and  snow.  Wollaston  insists  on  the  importance 
of  the  views.  '  In  a  country  where  the  greater  part  of 
one's  time  is  spent  dawdling  along  narroAV  tracks  hedged 
in  by  walls  of  grass  and  bushes,  whence  nothing  can  be 
seen  but  the  back  of  the  man  in  front  of  you,  or  in 
groping  blindly  through  tunnels  of  forest,  the  views 
acquire  an  importance  which  can  hardly  be  realised  in  a 
country  built  upon  a  smaller  scale.     It  is  the  views, 


ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON  279 

seen  or  hoped  for,  which  alone  make  travelling  toler- 
able in  Africa.' 

The  expedition  remained  in  this  camp  for  nearly 
four  months.  Of  these  the  first,  January,  was  the  only 
fine  one,  and  it  brought  them  their  only  guests.  An 
Austrian  climber,  Herr  Gra'ier,  with  three  members 
of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  stayed  for  several 
days  on  their  way  down  from  their  climb  in  the  Mubuku 
Valley,  of  which  we  have  already  heard.  Herr  Grauer 
had  been  defeated  by  wet  weather,  and  spent  most  of 
his  visit  in  removing  from  his  person  the  Ruwenzori 
mud,  with  which  the  Englishmen  were  soon  to  make 
acquaintance  in  their  turn.  He  was  a  delightful  guest, 
and  they  were  sorry  when  he  departed.  Other  visitors 
to  the  neighbourhood,  though  not  to  the  camp  itself, 
were  the  chimpanzees,  of  whom  there  were  great  numbers 
in  the  forest,  living  on  platforms  of  sticks  built  in  the 
forks  of  high  trees,  and  the  lions,  who  occasionally 
came  for  a  week-end's  pig-hunting.  '  Between  Saturday 
and  Monday  they  killed  four  wild  boars  within  half  a 
mile  of  the  camp,  and  the  shrieking  of  the  unhappy 
victims  was  most  terrible  to  hear  ;  there  was  no  moon 
at  the  time,  and  the  vegetation  was  too  dense  to  make 
lion-hunting  by  candle-light  an  attractive  amusement 
for  anybody  except  the  lions.'  Besides  the  lions 
there  were  leopards  too,  who  took  sheep  and  goats, 
and  seemed  to  prefer  those  belonging  to  the  camp — 
at  least  the  native  goatherd  always  put  down  the  Josses 
to  the  camp  account. 

The  primary  object  of  the  expedition  was  to  collect 
specimens  ;  it  was  therefore  not  till  the  latter  half  of 
February  that  they  had  time  to  think  of  climbing,  and 
even  then  their  equipment  was  a  haphazard  one.     Herr 


280    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

Graiier  had  given  them  twenty-five  feet  of  rope  and  a 
pair  of  crampons,  but  they  had  only  one  old  ice  axe, 
■which  Mr.  Freshfield  had  left  behind  him  at  Toro ; 
worst  of  all,  they  had  no  portable  tent,  so  that  they 
could  not  make  a  base  camp  beyond  the  point  to  which 
their  porters  would  consent  to  go,  and  that  was  not 
very  far.  Finally,  the  good  weather  was  gone  and  the 
rainv  season  had  set  in. 

Still,  it  was  impossible  to  leave  Ruwenzori  without 
making  an  attempt  to  win  the  great  prize,  and  in 
one  of  the  rare  intervals  of  sunshine  tliey  set  out  for 
the  upper  regions.  The  rain  closed  down  on  them 
immediately,  but  they  struggled  along  a  knife-edged 
ridge  1,000  feet  sheer  above  the  Mubuku  torrent  and 
reached  a  huge  erratic  boulder  called  Vitaba  by  the 
natives,  who  are  accustomicd  to  shelter  behind  it,  for 
it  is  '  as  big  as  two  four-roomed  cottages  rolled  into 
one.'  After  leaving  Vitaba  they  had  to  plunge  into  a 
thicket  of  bamboos,  through  which  it  was  very  hard 
to  wriggle,  especially  for  the  Bakonjo  porters  with  their 
loads  on  their  heads.  They  went  for  miles  through  this 
tangle  of  stems,  and  at  the  end  of  the  day  reached  the 
foot  of  a  steep  black  precipice  400  or  500  feet  high, 
called  Kichuchu.  Here  they  had  to  camp,  on  a  small 
space  of  comparatively  dry  ground,  only  a  few  yards  in 
extent,  beneath  an  overhang  of  the  rock.  The  floor 
was  a  quivering  bog,  and  there  was  not  room  enough  to 
pitch  a  tent,  so  they  laid  their  bedding  close  to  the  foot 
of  the  cUff  and  as  far  as  possible  out  of  the  way  of  the 
water  which  dripped  down  in  a  constant  cascade. 

But  these  discomforts  were  not  all.  '  The  most 
notable  feature  of  the  camp  at  Kichuchu  was  the 
nocturnal   chorus   of   the   Ruwenzori   ghosts.     It   was 


ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON  281 

always  said  by  the  natives  that  there  were  devils  high 
lip  in  the  mountains,  and  anyone  of  a  superstitious 
turn  of  mind  who  has  slept,  or  tried  to  sleep,  at  Kichuchu 
could  well  believe  it.  So  soon  as  it  became  dark 
first  one  and  then  another  shrill  cry  broke  the  silence ; 
then  the  burden  was  taken  up  by  one  high  up  on  the 
cliff  overhead,  then  by  others  on  either  side,  until  the 
whole  valley  was  ringing  with  screams.  Various  theories 
were  advanced  to  account  for  it  :  frogs,  owls  and  devils 
were  among  the  suggestions,  but  the  natives  declared 
that  the  noises  were  made  by  hyraxes,  and  we  discovered 
afterwards  that  they  were  right.  It  is  possible  that 
each  actual  cry  was  not  very  loud,  but  the  steep  hill- 
sides and  the  bare  wall  of  the  cliff  acted  as  sounding 
boards,  which  intensified  the  sound  to  an  incredible 
extent.  It  was  one  of  the  most  mournful  and  blood- 
curdling sounds  I  have  ever  heard,'  says  Wollaston, 
'  and  it  caused  an  uncomfortable  thrill,  even  after 
we  had  been  assured  that  it  had  not  a  supernatural 
origin.' 

Next  day  began  the  ascent  of  a  series  of  gigantic 
steps  or  terraces  from  500  to  1,000  feet  in  height,  with 
about  two  miles  of  level  between  them.  The  first  of 
these  steps  was  the  precipice  above  the  encampment, 
and  it  was  the  worst  to  climb.  It  was  dripping  with 
water  and  brought  the  explorers  out  on  to  a  terrace 
covered  with  giant  heath  trees  growing  very  close 
together,  with  others  decaying  on  the  ground  between 
them.  But  the  porters  hopped  nimbly  over  these,  and 
at  11,800  feet  the  party  reached  a  sort  of  primeval 
swamp-garden  with  huge  flowers  growing  out  of  dense 
moss-beds,  and  the  Mubuku  running  through  the  middle 
of  it  as  clear  as  an  English  trout  stream.     A  slippery 


282    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

scramble  across  this  garden  brought  them  to  their 
next  camping  place,  Bujongolo,  12,401  feet  up. 

Bujongolo  was  as  uncomfortable  as  Kichuchu,  and 
not  less  haunted — ten  feet  of  ground  under  an  over- 
hanging cliff,  from  which  many  huge  blocks  had  already 
fallen.  The  porters  crept  into  holes  and  crannies  among 
the  rocks,  the  Englishmen  sat  huddled  round  a  fire  of 
sodden  heath  logs,  which  produced  only  an  acrid  and 
blinding  smoke.  As  night  fell  huge  bats  two  feet  across 
the  wings  came  out  from  the  cliff,  and  flew  noiselessly 
to  the  valley  below.  There  were  tracks  of  leopards 
and  other  wild  cats  round  the  camp,  and  to  crown  all 
the  tired  climbers  were  shaken  out  of  their  uneasy  sleep 
by  an  earthquake  of  great  severity.  '  Every  moment,' 
says  Wollaston,  '  I  expected  to  see  the  cliff,  which 
made  our  roof,  come  crashing  down  to  put  an  untimely 
end  to  our  travels.' 

But  the  earthquake  passed  and  day  returned,  and 
the  explorers  began  to  make  plans  for  the  attack  on 
Ruwenzori.  The  first  thing  to  do  was  to  ascertain 
which  was  actually  the  highest  peak  of  the  range,  for 
no  one  had  yet  discovered  this  ;  in  fact  no  one  was 
sure  how  many  peaks  there  were,  or  in  what  direction 
they  lay  from  one  another.  There  was  the  rock  named 
by  Herr  Grauer  '  King  Edward's  Rock,'  now  renamed 
Grauer's  Rock  ;  there  was  Kiyanja,  which  Sir  Harry 
Johnston  thought  to  be  the  true  Ruwenzori,  and  two 
other  twin  peaks  which  he  had  named  the  Duwoni ; 
there  was  a  big  peak  to  the  north-west,  now  called 
Savoia  Peak,  and  further  away  to  the  north-west  two 
beautiful  sharp-pointed  snow  peaks  which  Wollaston 
afterwards  estimated  to  be  the  highest  of  all — these 
are  the  two  seen  by  Stanley  and  named  Mount  Stanley, 


ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON  283 

but   now    rechristened     Margharita   Peak    and   Queen 
Alexandra  Peak. 

The  first  expedition  made  by  our  party  from 
Bujongolo  was  to  the  head  of  the  Mubuku  glacier  and 
up  to  the  top  of  Grauer's  Rock.  This  they  examined, 
and  found  that  it  was  not,  as  Grauer  had  thought,  the 
summit  of  the  watershed,  but  only  a  ridge  connecting 
a  big  buttress  with  the  main  chain.  They  returned 
therefore  at  once,  and  next  day  WoUaston  and  Woosnam 
set  out  for  Kiyanja.  They  followed  up  a  small  stream, 
and  soon  got  thoroughly  bogged  at  an  altitude  of 
14,000    feet,  where   the   least    exertion  was   a   labour. 

It  only  needed  a  word  from  one  to  the  other  of  us, 
and  we  had  beaten  a  retreat.'  But  neither  spoke  the 
word  ;  they  laid  down  their  cameras  and  all  the  food 
they  could  spare,  and  struggled  on.  At  14,500  feet  they 
cleared  the  region  of  the  lobelias,  and  at  14,800  feet  they 
got  onto  rock.  But  the  clouds  had  come  low  down, 
and  to  make  sure  of  findmg  their  way  back  was  no 
easy  matter.  Here  the  old  fairy  tales  came  to  mind 
and  helped  them  out.  They  filled  their  pockets  with 
the  flower-heads  of  the  '  ever-lastings,'  scattered  them 
every  few  yards  in  the  fog,  like  Hansel  and  Gretel,  or 
Hop  o'  my  Thumb  in  the  story,  and  so  went  boldly 
forward  to  the  top  they  had  seen  from  below. 

They  got  safely  back  to  camp  that  night,  but  on 
the  way  down,  when  a  warm  slant  of  sunshine  pierced 
the  fog,  they  saw  that  there  was  another  top  close  by, 
some  150  feet  higher  than  theirs — the  peak  afterwards 
named  King  Edward  Peak.  Their  consolation  was 
that  they  had  done  15,840  feet,  and  been  considerably 
higher  than  anyone  before  them.     Also  they  could  still 

.ry  again  in  another  direction.     Their  next  course  was 


284    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

obviously,  they  thought,  to  climb  the  peak  on  the  north- 
east side  of  the  Mubuku  glacier  and  see  whether  it  was 
actually  one  of  the  Duwoni  or  not.  But  as  before 
the  work  of  collecting  had  first  to  be  done.  They 
returned  to  Bihunga,  and  came  back  to  Bujongolo  at 
the  end  of  March.  On  April  1,  Woosnam,  Carruthers, 
and  Wollaston  set  out  once  more  for  the  supposed 
Duwoni.  They  tried  a  new  turn  this  time,  and  got 
into  a  steep  and  unpleasantly  wet  gully  ;  but  it  led 
them  to  the  southern  ridge  of  their  objective.  Then 
they  luckily  came  upon  snow  slopes,  which  were  easier 
work,  and  in  rather  less  than  six  hours  they  reached 
a  rocky  point,  climbed  it,  and  found  themselves  on  the 
top  of  the  peak.  Then  the  clouds  parted  enough  to 
show  them,  as  once  before,  a  twin  peak  close  to  theirs. 
This  time  however  the  luck  was  with  them  ;  they  were 
on  Duwoni,  and  their  peak  was  the  higher  of  the  two. 
The  twins  were  afterwards  named  by  the  Duke  of  the 
Abruzzi :  Moore  Peak  15,269  feet,  and  Wollaston  Peak 
15,286  feet. 

There  still  remained  the  two  peaks  to  the  west, 
which  Wollaston  suspected  of  being  higher  still  ;  but 
though  the  party  stayed  three  hours  on  Wollaston 
Peak  they  never  got  a  glimpse  of  them.  At  last  snow 
drove  them  down  ;  their  gully  was  an  ice-torrent,  and 
they  floundered  through  the  swamp  below  by  candle- 
light. But  they  were  insatiable  of  discovery  ;  after 
one  day's  rest  they  ascended  Kiyanja  again  in  hopes 
of  getting  a  decisive  view  of  the  lost  peaks.  But  this 
time,  too,  fate  was  against  them — they  saw  nothing  but 
the  top  of  King  Edward  Peak. 

They  were  now  in  the  position  of  a  runner  who  has 
made  his  effort  and  must  ease  off  for  a  time,  at  the  risk 


ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON  285 

of  his  rival  passing  him.     It  is  greatly  to  the  English- 
men's credit  that  though  their  rival  did  pass  them  and 
win,  he  only  did  so  by  consulting  them  upon  the  one 
crucial  point,  the  position  of  the  two  untouched  peaks 
and    the    way    to    approach    them.     The    Duke  o[    the 
Abruzzi  arrived  at  Toro  at  the  end   of  May,  with  a 
thoroughly    efficient    party    of    guides,    photographers, 
and  friends,  equipped  in  a  professional  manner  which 
bore  no  relation  to  the  single  ice  axe  and  secondhand 
rope  of  our  naturalists  ;    he  had  but  one  object,  the 
conquest  of  Ruwenzori,  and  he  set  about  it  with  a  royal 
thoroughness.     His    first    preparation    was    to    invite 
Wollaston  to  meet  him  at  Toro,  the  rest  of  the  expedi- 
tion being  away  shooting.     This  was  a  strange  position 
for  Wollaston.     Acceptance  meant  giving  his  rival  the 
game  :  it  also  meant  walking  sixty  miles  each  way  on 
a  blazing  hot  road ;  but  the  Italian  was  a  really  good 
mountaineer  and  the  Englishman  a  really  good  sports- 
man.     Wollaston  went,     and   advised  the  Duke   that 
if  he  proposed  to  reach  the  peaks  from  the    Mubuku 
Valley  he  would  probably  find  it  necessary  to  cross  the 
range  (as  he  did  in  fact)  by  the  low  pass  to  the  south 
of  Kiyanja,  and  skirt  the  base  of  that  mountain,  which 
he    himself    had    twice    ascended.     Then    after   setting 
the  Italians  a  day's   march  on  their  way,  he  marched 
back   to   his   own  camp  with  '  many  a  bitter  pang  of 
envy.'     Afterwards,  he  says,  '  I  used   to    walk   almost 
daily  to  a  spot  from  which  I  could  see  the  snows,  and 
wish    myself  among   them  ;     but   the   mountains   were 
in  the  best  possible  hands,  and  the  completely  successful 
result  of  the  Duke  of  the  Abruzzi's  expedition  is  now  a 
matter  of  history.' 

That  is  a  gallant  saying,  and   the   Duke   paid    an 


286    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

honourable  debt  when  he  gave  Wollaston  a  peak 
among  the  Kings  and  Queens  of  Italy  and  England. 
Our  man  lost ;  but  he  won  something  too.  Gaudet 
cognomine  terra. 

4.  The  Largest  Island  in  the  World 

The  British  Museum  Expedition  broke  up  in  October ; 
but  while  the  other  members  made  straight  for  home, 
Wollaston  and  Carruthers  went  back  only  as  far  as 
Entebbe,  and  from  there  set  off  westward  again  with  a 
fresh  train  of  forty  porters,  to  see  the  great  lakes  and 
the  Congo  on  their  own  account.  They  passed  down 
the  whole  length  of  Lake  Albert  Edward,  through  the 
Mfumbiro  range  of  volcanos,  from  end  to  end  of  Lake 
Kivu,  down  the  western  arm  of  Lake  Tanganyika, 
across  to  the  Congo,  and  down  the  whole  course  of  that 
river  to  the  sea.  This  was  not,  of  course,  exploring, 
in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  but  it  was  travel  of 
an  enterprising  and  adventurous  kind :  to  undertake 
such  a  journey  voluntarily  at  the  end  of  an  expedition 
which  had  already  lasted  a  year,  was  a  characteristic 
example  of  the  born  traveller's  spirit,  the  spirit  which 
urges  some  men  to  go  '  for  ever  roaming  with  a  hungry 
heart,'  like  Ulysses  in  the  poem. 

Certainly  '  I  cannot  rest  from  travel '  might  well 
be  Wollaston's  motto.  He  was  always  ready  to  start 
again,  and  he  had  only  just  time  to  write  the  account 
of  his  African  journey  when  he  was  offered  and  accepted 
a  chance  to  go  still  further  afield.  The  expedition  this 
time  was  to  be  sent  out  by  the  British  Ornithologists' 
Union,  and  the  proposal  came  once  more  from  Mr. 
Ogilvie   Grant,   who  was   one   of   the   members.     The 


ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON  287 

objective  was  to  be  Dutch  New  Guinea,  where  there  was 
an  unmapped  range  of  snow  mountains  and  a  country 
stocked  with  unknown  birds.  Mr.  Ogilvie  Grant's 
suggestion  was  adopted,  and  at  once  aroused  a  good  deal 
of  pubHc  interest ;  the  Royal  Geographical  Society 
wished  to  share  in  the  enterprise,  and  the  funds  required 
were  soon  subscribed.  Then,  as  it  appeared  that  a 
Dutch  expedition  was  also  on  foot,  under  Mr.  H.  A. 
Lorentz,  Sir  Edward  Grey  at  the  Foreign  Office  undertook 
to  arrange  matters  with  the  Netherlands  Government 
to  prevent  overlapping  and  procure  the  necessary 
permission  and  military  escort. 

The  leader  of  the  B.O.U.  party  was  to  be  Mr.  Walter 
Goodf ellow,  who  already  knew  the  country  ;  of  the  other 
members,  Messrs.  Stalker  and  Shortridge  were  the 
naturalists,  Captain  Cecil  Rawling — who  had  been  in 
Tibet  with  Sir  Francis  Younghusband  and  had  mapped 
that  country — was  surveyor,  with  an  assistant  surveyor, 
Mr.  E.  S.  Marshall,  who  had  just  returned  from  the 
Antarctic  with  Sir  Ernest  Shackleton,  and  Mr. 
Wollaston  was  to  be  medical  officer,  botanist,  and 
entomologist,  as  he  had  been  before.  The  expedition 
started  as  a  party  of  four  by  a  P.  and  O.  steamer  from 
Marseilles,  on  October  29,  1909,  and  the  rest  of  its 
personnel  joined  up  as  it  proceeded  on  its  way.  Ten 
Gurkhas  were  picked  up  at  Singapore.  Mr.  Shortridge 
was  waiting  at  Batavia,  the  Dutcli  capital  in  Java,  and 
there  too  was  a  special  steamer  generously  provided  by 
the  Dutch  Government,  with  the  military  escort  under 
Lieutenant  H.  A.  Cramer.  At  Amboina,  which  the 
steamer  reached  on  December  30,  they  found  Mr.  Stalker, 
who  had  been  recruiting  coolies  for  them  in  advance. 
Finally,  New  Guinea  was  sighted  on  January  4,  1910. 


288     THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

New  Guinea,  or  Papua,  is  the  largest  island  on  the 
globe,  and  yet  one  of  the  least  known  to  ordinary 
inhabitants  of  the  civilised  world.  When  Wollaston's 
book  was  published  in  1912  it  was  almost  sensationally 
novel ;    few  people  in  England  had  even  realised  that 

*  New  Guinea  '  and  '  Papua  '  were  two  names  for  one 
and  the  same  country,  and  he  found  it  necessary  to 
explain  how  the  second  name  arose.  '  Papua  comes 
from  the  Malay  word  papuwah,  meaning  "woolly  "  or 
**  fuzzy,"  and  was  first  applied  to  the  natives  on  account 
of  their  mops  of  hair  ;  later  the  name  was  applied  to 
the  island  itelf.'  As  to  the  island,  the  information  we 
had  received  from  the  geography  books  was  mainly 
political  and  not  very  pleasant.  We  knew  that  the 
Dutch  had  owned  the  western  half  of  the  country  for 
a  long  time,  and  that  we  had  got  hold  of  the  eastern 
part  in  our  casual  sort  of  way,  and  supposed  it  to  be 
British  until  one  day  the  Germans  annexed  half  of  it 
and  called  it  Kaiser  Wilhelm  Land,  at  the  same  time 
turning  New  Britain,  New  England,  New  Ireland,  and 
other   adjacent   islands  into  '  Neu  Pommern  '  and  the 

*  Bismarck  Archipelago.'  The  Australians  protested  at 
the  time — they  have  re-arranged  the  map  now — and 
by  that  we  learned  that  New  Guinea  was  only  100 
miles  from  the  north  coast  of  Australia.  So  much  for 
the  country  ;  as  to  the  natives,  who  were  the  true  and 
original  owners  of  it,  we  probably  knew  that  they  were 
Malays,  an  obscure  race  of  savages  doing  very  little 
for  us  in  the  way  of  trade.  Only  specialists  knew 
more  than  this. 

But  the  real  interest  of  New  Guinea  does  not  lie 
in  its  political  history  or  its  commercial  prospects  :  it 
is  greater  than  even  the  specialists  could  have  guessed. 


ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON  289 

Probably  the  British  expedition  themselves  had  no 
idea,  when  they  started,  of  what  they  were  actually 
fated  to  discover ;  birds  and  snow  mountains  were 
less  than  the  half  of  it.  The  fact  is  that  in  this  island 
secrets  were  waiting  for  the  explorer,  secrets  for  which 
explorers  have  long  been  searching  among  the  primitive 
races  of  the  earth.  We  men  of  to-day,  with  our  con- 
ventional manners  and  Dreadnoughts  and  champagne, 
are  aware  that  we  are  descended  from  remote  fore- 
fathers who  had  to  get  their  living  with  more  effort, 
more  original  inventiveness,  and  fewer  inherited  re- 
sources ;  and  in  every  race  of  savages  our  travellers 
have  told  us  of  we  have  hoped  to  find  some  picture  of 
our  own  past.  But  of  such  a  picture  we  get  only 
glimpses  ;  we  put  together  a  detail  or  two,  but  the 
result  is  only  fit  for  a  case  in  a  museum,  it  has  no  air  of 
life  about  it.  The  reason  of  this  is  that  the  savages  our 
explorers  have  studied  were  always,  broadly  speaking, 
in  one  of  two  classes.  Powerful  and  numerous  races, 
like  those  of  Africa,  were  no  longer  really  primitive  : 
they  possessed  steel  weapons  and  many  of  the  arts  of 
life  ;  they  had  apparently  degenerated  to  some  extent 
from  a  more  advanced  condition.  On  the  other  hand 
races  elsewhere  which  had  remained  primitive  were 
feeble  ones,  few  in  numbers  and  without  the  energy  or 
inventiveness  to  use  the  resources  of  the  earth.  The 
blacks  of  Australia  had  no  weapons  at  all,  no  boats, 
no  crops,  no  villages  ;  they  lived  by  fishing  and  gathering 
seeds,  as  we  have  heard  in  the  story  of  Burke  and  Wills. 
We  could  never  have  come  from  helpless  creatures  like 
these.  What  the  modern  man  of  science  longed  to  find 
was  a  numerous  and  healthy  race,  developing  in  a 
corner  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  still  at 


290     THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

the  early  stage  when  the  biggest  ship  was  no  bigger  than 
the  single  tree  it  was  made  from,  and  when  there  were 
as  yet  no  regulations  for  the  use  of  alcohol  or  the 
expression  of  the  emotions.  Among  such  a  people,  if 
they  existed,  might  be  seen  perhaps  an  image  of  the 
early  world,  not  preserved  in  graves  or  collections  of 
long  disused  weapons  and  ornaments,  but  alive  and 
ready  to  be  questioned.  And  not  one  but  two  such 
races  were  in  Papua,  waiting  for  Wollaston  to  record 
their  life  as  he  saw  it  from  this  end  of  time. 

5.  Back  in  the  Stone  Age 

After  sighting  the  island  on  January  4,  the  ship 
steamed  along  the  coast  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mimika 
river.  She  was  boarded  on  the  way  by  some  fifty 
natives  in  dug-out  canoes,  headed  by  one  man  in  an 
old  white  cotton  jacket  fastened  by  a  brass  button 
with  Queen  Victoria's  head  upon  it,  and  another  hold- 
ing up  an  ancient  Union  Jack.  To  the  explorers  the 
appearance  of  such  relics  was  unaccountable,  for  it 
is  certain  that  no  Englishman  had  ever  been  there 
before.  They  got  rid  of  their  uninvited  guests  with 
some  difficulty,  and  next  morning  the  steam  launch 
was  sent  up  the  Mimika  to  prospect  for  a  suitable  base. 
Three  miles  up  they  came  to  the  village  of  Wakatimi, 
and  were  given  an  astonishing  reception  by  a  thousand 
natives  who  crowded  down  the  bank  shouting  shrilly ; 
men,  women,  and  children  flung  themselves  into  the 
water,  plastered  themselves  with  mud,  danced  their 
peculiar  wriggling  dance,  and  shed  tears  of  rapture. 
It  was  already  evident  that  the  white  men  had  come  to 
a  very  primitive  world  ;    they  pitched  camp  opposite 


ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON  291 

to  Wakatimi,  and  the  two  races,  the  ancient  and  the 
modern,  began  to  make  acquaintance. 

Trade  of  course  was  the  first  Hnk :  the  natives 
helped  the  whites  in  hut  building  and  were  delighted 
to  be  paid  in  beads  and  cloth.  Then  they  brought 
live  birds  for  sale,  and  delicious  prawns  six  or  eight 
inches  long ;  and  then  every  kind  of  possession,  axes, 
clubs,  bows  and  arrows,  spears  and  drums,  and  even 
the  skulls  of  their  ancestors.  What  they  most  desired  in 
exchange  for  these  were  knives,  bottles,  and  empty 
tins,  and  of  these  the  expedition  had  naturally  a  good 
supply  to  spare  as  time  went  on.  Clothes  also  were 
in  great  demand,  but  these  were  ruled  out :  the  Papuan 
looked  a  gentleman  in  his  own  skin,  but  a  degraded 
creature  in  European  rags. 

The  houses  of  Wakatimi  are  thatched,  and  built 
in  long  rows,  or  rather  a  single  long  house  is  built  with- 
out internal  partitions,  and  is  divided  between  fifty  or 
sixty  families,  who  each  keep  to  their  own  section  and 
have  a  separate  door.  When  they  are  all  indoors  and 
a  number  of  fires  are  burning,  the  atmosphere  inside 
one  of  these  barracks  is  indescribable.  Outside,  the 
street  opposite  the  houses  is  bordered  with  fine  cocoanut 
palms,  300  or  400  in  a  grove,  very  picturesque  and 
pleasantly  shady.  The  nuts  are  heavy  and  dangerous 
when  a  wind  brings  them  crashing  down  ;  but  they  are 
one  of  the  principal  sources  of  wealth  to  the  people, 
who  exchange  them  with  their  neighbours  for  tobacco 
and  bananas. 

Another  common  species  of  palm  is  the  sugar  palm, 
prized  still  more  by  the  natives  because  it  is  a  kind  of 
automatic  wine  shop.  '  When  the  palm  is  in  fruit — it 
bears  a  heavy  bunch  of  dark  green  fruit  —a  cut  is  made 


292     THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

in  the  stem  below  the  stalk  of  the  fruit,  and  the  juice 
trickles  out  and  is  collected  in  the  shell  of  a  cocoanut. 
Apparently   the   juice   ferments   very   rapidly   without 
the  addition  of  any   other  substance,   for  it  is  drunk 
almost  as  soon  as  it  is  collected,  and  the  native  becomes 
horribly    intoxicated.'      So    says    Wollaston,    and    he 
follows  this  with  observations  which  seem  to  bring  the 
ancient  and  modern  worlds  very  near  together.     '  Dur- 
ing the  first  few  weeks  of  our  stay  the  people  were  on 
their  good  behaviour,  or  else  they  found  sufficient  amuse- 
ment in  coming  to  see  us  and  our  works  ;   but  they  soon 
tired  of  that  and  went  back  to  their  normal  habits. 
Many  of  them  went  to  the  drinking  place  by  day,  and 
we  often  saw  them  lying  or  sitting  at  the  foot  of  the 
tree,  while  one  of  their  party  stood  at  the  top  of  a 
bamboo  ladder  collecting  the  palm  wine.     But  the  worst 
was  a  small  gang  of  about  a  dozen  men,  the  laziest  in 
the  village,  whose  custom  it  was  to  start  off  towards 
evening  in  canoes  to  their  favourite  drinking  tree,  where 
they  spent  the  night  drinking  and  making  night  hideous 
with   their   songs   and    shouts.     In   the   morning   they 
returned  raving  to  the  village,  and   as    often  as  not 
they  started  quarrelling  and  fighting  and  knocking  the 
houses  to  pieces  before  they  settled  down  to  sleep  off 
the    effects    of   their    potations.     Sometimes"  even  the 
women  drank.     One  came  over  one  day  in  a  canoe  with 
her  husband  ;    it  was  pouring  with  rain  and  the  boat 
was  half  full  of  water,  but  the  couple  danced  up  and 
down   and  sang  a  drunken  ditty — it  was   a  ludicrous 
and  at  the  same  time  a  heart-rending  exhibition.'     The 
man  had  been  a  fine  athletic  fellow  when  they  first 
saw  him,  but  in  a  few  months  he  was  hardly  ever  sober, 
and  within  the  year  he  died.     Another  of  the  principal 


ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON 


293 


men  of  Wakatimi  one  day  came  to  the  river  quite  drunk, 
moored  his  canoe  in  mid-stream,  and  shot  arrows  pro- 
miscuously at  the  village  and  the  camp,  raving  and 
shouting  furiously.  Finally,  when  his  wife  came  and 
told  him  her  opinion  of  him,  he  shot  at  her  too ;  but  she 


Aw 

*  The  Papuan  looked  a  gentleman  in  hia  own  skin.' 


got  him  ashore,  broke  his  remaining  arrows  across  her 
knee,  and  scolded  him  home  like  a  whipped  and  ashamed 
dog. 

But  the  average  Papuans  have  no  time  for  drink, 
they  are  too  much  occupied,  men  and  women,  with  the 
everlasting  search  for  food,  which  is  naturally  the  first 
object  of  human  life,  though  civilisation  partly  conceals 


294     THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

the  fact.  In  Papua  there  is  not  much  cultivation — 
the  crops  are  never  nearly  sufficient  to  feed  the  popu- 
lation. A  large  part  of  the  food  supply  is  got  by  hunting 
game  in  the  jungle  and  fish  in  the  rivers  or  along  the 
coast.  The  women  collect  sago  from  the  sago  palms 
and  shell-fish  from  the  mud  banks.  The  men  get  the 
larger  kinds  of  fish  either  with  a  hook  and  line,  or  by 
spearing  them  in  shallow  water,  or  by  shooting  them 
with  arrows  ;  but  they  are  absurdly  bad  shots  with  either 
weapon.  Still,  they  are  born  fishermen,  as  may  be  seen 
from  a  note  of  Wollaston's.  '  The  sight  of  a  fish,  how- 
ever small  it  is,  always  rouses  a  Papuan  to  action. 
When  we  were  travelling  with  natives  we  sometimes 
came  to  pools  where  small  fish  had  been  left  by  some 
receding  flood.  Instantly  their  loads  were  thrown 
down  and  everyone  darted  into  the  water  with  sticks  and 
stones  and  shouts  with  as  much  enthusiasm  as  if  the 
fish  had  been  salmon  and  a  full  meal  for  everyone.' 
English  boys,  and  not  very  young  ones,  have  been 
known  to  feel  much  the  same — the  sight  of  a  fish  is 
more  full  of  sport  than  the  sight  of  fox  or  pheasant. 

But  the  Papuan  thinks  even  more  highly  of  a  pig 
than  a  fish.  He  seems  to  realise  that  of  all  animals 
in  existence  the  pig  is  the  most  useful  to  man  ;  he  not 
only  hunts  pigs  in  the  jungle,  and  keeps  them  tame  in 
the  village,  but  he  has  a  kind  of  reverence  for  everything 
connected  with  them,  treasures  their  jawbones  and 
even  hangs  up  in  a  conspicuous  place  the  grass  and 
leaves  in  which  the  dead  animals  have  been  wrapped, 
and  the  ropes  used  for  tying  them  up  and  dragging  them 
home  from  the  jungle.  The  solemn  killing  of  pigs  was 
the  only  elaborate  popular  ceremony  that  the  explorers 
witnessed   during   their   stay.     Mr.    Marshall   describes 


ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON  295 

the  scene  as  beginning  overnight  with  a  big  bonfire  and 
a  great  deal  of  howUng  and  yelling,  as  if  to  drive  away 
evil  spirits.  Soon  after  daybreak  the  Englishmen  were 
fetched  and  given  front  places.  '  First  of  all  the  women, 
draped  in  leaves,  slowly  walked  down  the  beach,  driving 
two  full-grown  boars  in  front  of  them,  and  then  dis- 
appeared in  the  jungle.  About  150  men,  with  faces 
painted  and  heads  and  spears  decorated  with  feathers, 
formed  up  in  three  sides  of  a  square,  one  end  of  which 
was  occupied  by  a  band  of  tom-toms.  A  slow  advance 
on  the  village  then  commenced,  the  men  shouting  in 
chorus  and  the  women  dancing  on  the  outskirts.  The 
centre  of  the  square  was  occupied  by  single  individuals 
who,  following  each  other  in  quick  succession,  gave  a 
warlike  display,  finally  shooting  arrows  far  over  the 
trees.  The  next  scene  took  place  around  a  large  sloping 
erection  which  we  soon  found  was  an  altar,  on  which 
the  two  boars  were  about  to  be  sacrificed.  The  women 
and  boars  who  had  disappeared  into  the  forest  now 
marched  from  the  jungle  at  the  far  end  of  the  village. 
The  boars  were  seized,  and  a  struggle  with  the  animals 
ensued,  but  the  two  huge  brutes  were  bound  up  with 
rattan,  chalk  meanwhile  being  rubbed  into  their  eyes, 
apparently  in  order  to  blind  them.  The  women  set  up  a 
tremendous  wailing,  and  appeared  on  the  scene  plastered 
in  wet  mud  from  head  to  foot.  The  two  boars,  on  each 
of  which  a  man  sat  astride,  were  now  hoisted  up  and 
carried  to  the  altar,  on  which  the  animals  were  tightly 
lashed.  Then  amid  much  shouting,  tom-tomming  and 
fanatical  displays,  the  boars  were  clubbed  to  death. 
As  soon  as  life  was  extinct  the  women  cut  the  carcases 
free,  and  pulling  them  to  the  ground,  threw  themselves 
on  the  dead  bodies,  wailing  loudly  and  plastering  them- 


296     THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

selves  with  wet  mud  in  ecstasies  of  grief.  This  continued 
for  some  ten  minutes,  when  the  men,  many  of  whom 
were  covered  with  mud  and  uttered  strange  dirges, 
picked  up  the  bodies,  and  the  whole  assembly  following 
suit  marched  into  the  river,  where  a  much  needed 
washing  took  place.  .  .  .  The  whole  performance  lasted 
about  an  hour  and  a  half.'  When  we  read  this  vivid 
description  it  is  hardly  possible  that  we  should  not  be 
reminded  of  a  conflict  of  feelings  which  will  occur  at 
times  in  people  of  our  own  time  and  customs,  though 
we  have  for  many  generations  now  been  taught  to  ignore 
it :  the  conflict  between  a  natural  reluctance  to  kill  our 
brother  the  Pig,  and  an  equally  natviral  desire  to  trans- 
late him  into  Pork.  And  anyone  who  is  familiar  with 
Stonehenge  and  its  huge  altar  stone  will  have  no  diffi- 
culty in  picturing  our  own  ancestors  conducting  there 
just  such  a  ceremony  with  perhaps  much  the  same 
open  display  of  emotions.  Another  ancient  set  of 
feelings  which  we  admittedly  share  with  the  Papuans 
are  those  connected  with  our  little  brother  the  Dog. 
The  Papuan  dogs  are  very  sociable  :  they  like  to  go 
on  journeys  with  their  masters,  and  are  particularly 
fond  of  being  taken  in  the  canoes,  in  each  of  which  two  or 
three  dogs  may  commonly  be  seen.  They  are  sharp-nosed 
and  prick-eared  animals,  about  the  size  of  a  Welsh  terrier, 
yellow,  brown,  or  black,  with  an  upstanding  white-tipped 
tail.  Only  one  was  seen  with  a  thick  furry  coat,  like 
a  Chow.  They  are  invaluable  to  the  Papuans,  who 
could  never  catch  any  game  without  them  ;  and  when 
one  was  once  shot  in  the  act  of  stealing,  all  the  people 
of  the  village  began  to  wail  for  it  as  they  do  when  a 
man  dies,  and  the  owner  smeared  himself  with  mud 
and  mourned  bitterly.     He  may  have  exaggerated  in 


"a 


298     THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

order  to  get  more  compensation,  but  Wollaston  felt 
that  his  grief  was  a  genuine  emotion. 

Lastly  we  come  to  the  weapons  and  implements 
of  the  Papuans,  of  which  Wollaston's  book  contains 
pictures  most  beautifully  drawn  and  coloured.  The 
bows  are  of  wood,  the  arrows  and  fish  spears  of  wood, 
with  sharp  points  of  harder  wood  ;  some  arrows  are 
tipped  with  a  single  cassowary  claw,  and  the  large 
hunting  spears  are  pointed  with  long  sharp  pieces 
of  bone.  The  clubs  and  axes  are  very  powerful  instru- 
ments with  wooden  handles  and  stone  heads.  It  is 
difficult  to  conceive  the  skill  and  industry  which  must 
have  gone  to  the  making  of  all  these  tools  and  weapons  ; 
it  must  be  remembered  that  until  the  expedition 
reached  this  part  of  the  country  the  natives  had  no 
metal  tools  whatever,  and  all  their  work  was  done  with 
bits  of  sharp  shell  and  lumps  of  stone. 

The  few  items  of  evidence  which  we  have  picked 
out  from  this  book  all  point  irresistibly  to  one  con- 
clusion. We  have  seen  that  the  Papuans  of  to-day  have 
no  knowledge  of  the  use  of  bronze  or  iron ;  there  they 
are  many  centuries  behind  any  race  recorded  in  history. 
On  the  other  hand  they  have  developed  beyond  the 
feeble  tribes  which  have  now  passed  away,  or  are  dying 
out,  like  the  Australian  blacks.  They  are  at  the  stage 
when  men  had  perfected  the  use  of  stone,  wood,  and  bone 
for  implements,  when  they  had  begun  to  cultivate  crops 
for  food,  and  to  keep  domestic  animals.  These  three 
points  all  mark  them  out  as  belonging  to  what  anthro- 
pologists call  the  later  Stone  Age,  the  age  of  Neolithic 
Man.  Now  it  is  generally  accepted  as  certain  that  what- 
ever our  earliest  origin  may  have  been,  our  ancestors 
of  about  six  or  eight  thousand  j^ears  ago  were  Neolithic 


ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON 


299 


men.  In  looking  then  at  the  Papuans,  their  houses, 
weapons,  winC;  dogs,  canoes,  pigs,  and  ceremonies, 
Wollaston  and  his  companions  could  not  but  realise 
that  they  were  looking  at  the  life  of  their  own  race  at 


v^:^N 


'  Sitting  outside  his  hut  sharpening  an  axe.' 


a  remote  period — so  remote  that  no  written  record  of 
it  has  come  down  to  us.  And  not  only  were  they  looking 
at  it  as  a  picture,  but  they  saw  it  as  real  life,  an  ancient 
life  but  a  real  one,  which  they  could  touch  and  share  to- 
day, though  they  were  separated  from  it  by  a  difference  in 
time  and  civilisation  of  thousands  of  years.     Wollaston 


300  THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

relates  how  one  day  after  his  arrival  at  Wakatimi  he 
found  a  man  who  appeared  to  be  the  stone  smith  of  the 
village.  '  I  remember,'  he  says,  '  seeing  him  sitting 
outside  his  hut  sharpening  an  axe,  with  three  or  four 
others  lying  beside  him  waiting  to  be  done,  while  a  few 
yards  away  a  woman  was  splitting  a  log  of  wood  with 
a  stone  axe.  It  struck  me  as  being  one  of  the  most 
primitive  scenes  I  had  ever  witnessed,  really  a  glimpse 
of  the  Stone  Age.'  And  probably  no  explorer  has  ever 
travelled  further  than  that,  or  made  a  more  fascinating 
discovery. 

6.  The  Pygmies 

The  expedition  could  not  of  course  be  content  with 
a  single  base  camp  at  Wakatimi ;  they  were  no  sooner 
settled  there  than  they  began  to  form  a  second  one 
at  Parimau,  further  up  the  Mimika  river.  The  distance 
of  this  from  Wakatimi  was  only  twenty-two  miles  as 
the  crow  flies,  but  by  water  it  was  forty  miles,  and 
took  from  five  to  seven  days  to  travel  in  a  canoe, 
according  to  the  state  of  the  river  and  the  health  of 
the  coolies  who  worked  at  the  transport  of  stores. 
The  establishment  of  the  Parimau  camp  was  therefore 
a  slow  business,  and  as  it  was  itself  twelve  miles  from 
the  mountains  a  third  camp  was  planned  at  the  same 
time  still  further  inland. 

During  this  time  Captain  Cecil  Rawling  was  busy 
surveying  the  country,  and  had  reached  the  big  river 
Kapare,  north-west  of  Parimau,  when  one  day,  as  he 
was  walking  up  the  river  bed,  the  Papuans  who  were 
with  him  pursued  and  captured  a  wholly  unexpected 
kind  of  game — two  small  men,  whose  build  and  dress 
and   appearance   showed   them   to   belong   to   another 


ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON  301 

race  than  the  Papuan.  A  day  or  two  later  two  more 
were  captured  ;  they  were  all  kindly  treated  by  Captain 
Rawling,  who  gave  them  presents  and  hoped  they 
would  take  him  to  their  home,  a  large  clearing  in  the 
jungle  on  the  side  of  Mount  Tapiro,  which  was  within 
sight  of  the  Kapare.  But  they  showed  no  inclination 
to  do  this,  so  Rawling  had  to  content  himself  with 
resolving  to  make  his  own  way  there  when  he  could 
find  an  opportunity.  He  was  naturally  most  eager 
to  do  so,  for  these  little  men  were  obviously  of  a  race 
of  Pygmies.  The  Papuans,  it  afterwards  appeared, 
already  knew  them,  and  called  them  Tapiro,  after  the 
mountain  where  they  lived. 

At  the  beginning  of  March,  Wollaston  came  with 
one  of  the  food  transports  up  the  Mimika,  and  went 
with  Rawling  out  to  the  Kapare,  where  he  had  made 
a  camp,  and  was  occupied  with  some  of  the  Gurkhas 
in  cutting  a  track  through  the  jungle.  From  this 
upper  camp  the  two  explorers  made  two  attempts  to 
reach  the  forest  clearing  of  the  Tapiro,  which  could 
be  easily  seen  from  the  camp  at  a  distance  of  about 
three  miles  in  a  straight  line  ;  but  though  they  took 
careful  bearings  of  its  direction,  it  turned  out  to  be  a 
most  puzzling  place  to  reach.  In  their  first  attempt 
to  find  this  clearing  they  wandered  in  the  jungle  for 
ten  hours,  and  came  nowhere  near  it.  But  the  day 
was  not  altogether  wasted,  for  they  climbed  up  the 
hillside  to  about  1,500  feet,  and  by  cutting  down  some 
trees  they  got  a  wonderful  view  across  the  plain  of  the 
jungle  and  away  to  the  distant  sea.  The  air  of  the 
jungle  was  heavily  scented  with  wild  vanilla,  and  all 
around  they  could  hear,  though  they  could  not  see, 
the   Greater   Birds   of   Paradise,  and   sometimes   they 


302    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

were  within  sound  of  as  many  as  six  at  the  same  moment. 
They  also  got  their  first  sight  of  the  Rifle  Bird,  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  of  the  Birds  of  Paradise,  whose  cry 
is  a  long-drawn  whistle  which  Wollaston  says  '  can  never 
be  mistaken  or  forgotten.' 

The  second  attempt  is  more  fully  described  in  his 
diary. 

'  Rawling  and  I  left  camp  early  with  two  Gurkhas. 
A  mile  and  a  half  up  the  left  bank  of  the  river 
we  struck  off  N.E.  from  the  path  we  followed  the 
other  day.  Cut  a  new  path  through  the  jungle  for 
about  a  mile  until  we  came  to  a  faint  native  track, 
which  we  followed  for  another  mile  or  so,  chiefly  among 
fallen  tree  trunks  overhung  by  a  network  of  rattan 
and  other  creepers,  a  fearful  struggle  to  get  through. 
Then  for  a  mile  or  more  up  the  bed  of  a  stony  stream 
encumbered  with  the  same  obstructions,  dead  trees 
and  rattans,  until  we  came  to  a  deep  gorge  with  a 
torrent  about  300  feet  below  us,  and  on  the  opposite 
side  the  steep  slope  of  another  great  spur  of  the 
mountain,  on  which  the  clearing  presumably  lay.  We 
slithered  and  scrambled  down  to  the  river,  which  was 
full  of  water,  and  only  just  fordable.  Then  up  the 
other  slope,  not  knowing  at  all  accurately  the  direction 
of  the  clearing.  Very  steep,  and  the  jungle  very  dense 
with  rattan  and  tree  ferns,  so  the  leading  Gurkha 
was  kept  busily  occupied  in  cutting  with  his  kukris 
and  progress  was  slow. 

'  About  one  o'clock,  when  we  had  been  going  fo 
nearly  six  hours,  the  clouds  came  down  and  it  began 
to  rain,  and  we  were  ready  to  turn  back.  Luckily  the 
Gurkhas    were    convinced   that   the    clearing   was   not 


ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON  303 

far  ahead,  and  when  we  found  a  pig  trap — a  noose  of 
rattan  set  in  a  faint  track — it  seemed  that  they  might 
perhaps  be  right.  So  we  went  on,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
we  came  out  of  the  forest  into  the  clearing.  About 
thirty  yards  from  us  was  a  hut  with  three  men  standing 
outside  it.  We  called  out  to  them  and  they  waited 
until  we  came  up.  A  minute  or  two  later,  two  more 
men  came  out  from  the  forest  behind  us  ;  no  doubt 
they  had  been  following  us  unseen.  The  hut  was  a 
most  primitive  structure  of  sticks,  roofed  with  leaves, 
leaning  up  against  the  hillside.  There  was  a  fire  in 
the  hut,  and  beside  it  was  sitting  an  old  man  covered 
with  most  horrible  sores.  We  went  on  up  the  hill  for  a 
couple  of  hundred  yards  to  a  place  about  1,900  feet 
above  the  sea,  where  we  had  a  fine  view.  Rawling 
put  up  the  plane-table  and  got  angles  on  to  several 
points  for  the  map. 

'  During  the  hour  or  more  that  we  stayed  there, 
eight  men  came  to  see  us.  Excepting  one  rather 
masterful  little  man,  who  had  no  fear  of  us,  they  were 
too  shy  to  approach  us  closely,  and  remained  about 
ten  yards  distant,  but  even  so  it  was  plainly  evident, 
from  their  small  stature  alone,  that  they  were  of  a 
different  race  from  the  people  of  the  low  country. 

'  The  most  remarkable  thing  about  them  is  the  case 
that  each  man  wears,  his  only  article  of  clothing  ;  it 
is  made  of  a  long  yellow  gourd,  and  gives  him  a  most 
extraordinary  appearance.  Every  man  carries  a  bow 
and  arrows  in  his  hand  and  a  plaited  fibre  bag  of  quite 
elaborate  design  slung  on  his  back.  Two  men  wore 
necklaces  of  shell,  and  one  had  a  strip  of  fur  round  his 
head.  Two  others  wore  on  their  heads  curious  helmet - 
like  hats  of  grass,  ornamented  with  feathers. 


304    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

*  One  man  had  a  diminutive  axe  made  of  a  piece 
of  soft  iron,  about  three  inches  long,  set  in  a  handle 
like  those  of  the  stone  axes.  They  must  have  some 
bigger  axes,  as  they  have  cut  down  some  very  large 
trees,  and  the  marks  on  the  stumps  look  as  if  they  had 
been  made  with  fairly  sharp  instruments.  The  clearing 
altogether  is  very  considerable,  probably  fifty  acres  or 
more.  The  ground  is  covered  with  the  sweet-potato 
plant,  and  in  many  places  '*  taro  "  has  been  carefully 
picked  out.  They  have  a  few  coarse-looking  bananas, 
some  of  which  they  offered  us. 

*  Their  voices  are  rather  high  pitched,  and  one  of 
them,  who  met  us  first  and  called  several  of  the  others 
to  come  and  see  us,  ended  his  calls  with  a  very  curious 
shrill  jodelling  note.  When  we  came  away  we  offered 
them  cloth  and  beads  to  come  with  us  and  show  us  a 
better  way,  but  they  were  either  too  frightened  or 
too  lazy  to  do  so.  We  got  back  to  camp  after  ten 
hours  hard  going,  drenched  with  rain  and  covered  with 
leeches,  but  well  pleased  with  the  success  of  the  day.' 

After  this  the  Pygmies  came  occasionally  in  parties 
of  three  or  four  to  visit  the  camp  at  Parimau.  They 
were  warmly  welcomed  by  the  Papuans,  in  whose 
houses  they  used  to  stay  for  several  days  at  a  time. 
It  was  noticeable  that  when  they  came  to  the  village 
of  Parimau  they  came  without  their  bows  and  arrows, 
which  they  always  carried  at  other  times — probably 
they  had  left  them  hidden  in  the  jungle.  In  the  same 
way  the  Papuans  when  visiting  the  Tapiro  always 
left  their  spears  behind  them  at  the  last  camp  before 
they  reached  the  Pygmy  village ;  a  very  good  piece 
of  primeval  etiquette. 


ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON  305 

The  explorers  in  their  turn  paid  visits  to  the 
Pygmies,  who  showed  them  the  right  way  with  some 
reluctance.  It  was  a  very  ancient  secret  that  they 
were  giving  away,  for  even  the  Papuans  appear  not 
to  have  guessed  it,  after  living  near  them  for  no  one 
knows  how  long.  The  Tapiro  village  was  called 
Wamberi  Merberi,  and  Wollaston  found  that  it  was 
actually  within  a  stone's-throw  of  the  large  clearing 
which  Rawling  and  he  had  reached  with  so  much  diffi- 
culty. By  the  Pygmies'  own  track  it  was  an  easy  walk 
of  two  or  three  hours  from  the  Kapare  river. 

The  notes  made  by  the  explorers  about  these  little 
people  are  very  interesting.  The  Pygmy  men  averaged 
4  feet  9  inches  in  height,  though  some  were  only  4  feet 
2  inches.  By  contrast  with  the  Papuans  they  looked 
extremely  small,  and  Wollaston  remarked  that  though 
many  of  the  Malay  coolies  with  the  expedition  were 
no  taller,  the  coolies  looked  merely  undersized  and 
somewhat  stunted  men,  the  Tapiro  looked  empha- 
tically little  men.  They  are  cleanly  built,  active- 
looking  little  fellows,  a  race  of  mountaineers,  and 
their  well-made  calves  contrast  markedly  with  the 
long  straight  legs  of  the  Papuans.  They  walk  with 
an  easy  swinging  gait,  the  knees  a  little  bent  and  the 
body  slightly  leaning  fo^v^'ards.  Their  skin  is  paler 
than  that  of  the  Papuans — some  of  them  are  almost 
yellow — but  they  are  very  dirty  and  smear  their  faces 
with  a  black  oily  mixture.  All  of  them  have  the  central 
membrane  of  the  nose  pierced  and  adorned  with  a 
slip  of  boar's  tusk  or  bone.  Their  hair  is  short  and 
woolly,  black  or  sometimes  brown,  and  occasionally 
made  lighter  with  a  treatment  by  lime  or  mud.  The 
younger  men  have  whiskers  and  the  older  ones  beards  ; 

z 


306    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

their  eyes  are  large  and  round,  with  a  sleepy  and  dog- 
like expression. 

They  adorn  themselves  with  arm  bands,  leg  bands, 
or  necklaces  ;  but  their  most  ornamental  possessions 
are  their  bags  of  fine  coloured  fibres  ;  they  each  carry 
a  large  and  a  small  one,  and  in  these  they  keep  all  their 
property — shell  ornaments,  flint  knives  exactly  like 
those  found  in  our  own  country,  short  daggers  of 
sharpened  cassowary  bone,  sleeping-mat,  tobacco,  with 
firestick  and  rattan  and  tinder.  The  tobacco  is  smoked 
chiefly  in  cigarettes,  made  with  thin  slips  of  dry 
pandanus  leaf.  But  the  Tapiro  use  pipes  too  ;  their 
form  of  pipe  is  a  single  cylinder  of  bamboo  about  an 
inch  in  diameter  and  a  few  inches  in  length.  The 
smoker  rolls  a  small  plug  of  tobacco,  and  pushes  it 
down  to  about  the  middle  of  the  pipe,  then  holds  it 
upright  between  his  lips,  and  draws  out  the  smoke 
from  below. 

The  fire  is  obtained  with  an  apparatus  in  three 
parts,  a  split  stick,  a  rattan,  and  tinder.  The  split 
stick  is  held  open  by  a  small  pebble  placed  between 
the  split  halves.  The  rattan  is  a  long  coiled  piece 
of  split  rattan  cane  fibre,  and  the  tinder  is  of  dried 
moss  or  a  bit  of  the  sheath  of  a  palm  shoot.  The 
method  of  making  fire  is  as  follows.  In  the  split  of 
the  stick,  between  the  pebble  and  the  solid  part,  is 
placed  a  bit  of  tinder.  The  Tdpiro  lays  the  stick  on 
the  ground  and  puts  his  foot  on  the  solid  unsplit  end 
to  hold  it.  Then,  having  unwound  a  yard  of  the  rattan, 
he  passes  it  under  the  stick  at  the  point  where  the 
tinder  is  placed,  and  see-saws  it  backwards  and  for- 
wards with  extreme  rapidity.  In  from  ten  to  thirty 
seconds  the  rattan  wears  through  and   snaps,  but   he 


ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON  307 

picks  up  the  stick  with  the  tinder,  which  has  probably 
begun  by  this  time  to  smoulder,  and  blows  it  into  flame. 
The  explorers  only  succeeded  in  making  fire  in  this  way 
with  great  difficulty  and  after  many  attempts,  but 
the  Tdpiro  do  it  with  the  utmost  ease,  and  scorned  the 
boxes  of  matches  which  the  white  men  offered  them. 

Of  all  the  possessions  of  the  Pygmies,  by  far  the 
most  interesting  were  these  two — the  firesticks  and 
the  flint  knives.  Wollaston  was  profoundly  impressed 
by  seeing  them  in  use ;  and  no  wonder,  for  here  again, 
as  in  the  Papuan  village,  he  was  looking  back  into  the 
life  of  our  own  forerunners  of  thousands  of  years  ago. 
With  some  such  instrument  as  this  they  too  lit  their 
daily  fire  ;  with  just  such  flint  knives  as  these,  made 
in  exactly  the  same  way,  they  too  carved  their  bows, 
pointed  their  arrows  of  wood,  worked  their  bowls  and 
platters,  and  cut  their  strings  of  fibre  or  of  tendon. 
Wollaston,  like  other  men  of  science,  had  long  known 
this  much  of  primitive  life  and  its  resources,  but  he 
had  probably  felt  it  difficult  to  realise  the  courage 
and  skill  and  dexterity  with  which  little  Neolithic 
Man  got  his  living  in  a  difficult  world,  and  to  picture 
him  in  the  act  of  doing  it.  And  here  after  all  he  saw 
the  whole  life  before  his  eyes — no  picture,  but  a  day- 
light reality. 

7.  Jungle-bound 

The  explorers  had  achieved  some  of  the  most 
interesting  experiences  which  can  fall  to  the  lot  of 
any  discoverer :  they  had  found  the  Ancient  World, 
thought  to  have  passed  away  long  since,  complete 
with  all  its  birds  and  beasts  and  tribes  of  men.  But 
one  of  their  objects  had  eluded  them  entirely :    they 


308    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

never  succeeded  in  setting  foot  on  the  Snow  Mountains, 
though  they  made  many  attempts,  and  were  for  months 
within  forty  miles  of  them.  The  Dutch  explorer,  Mr. 
Lorentz,  was  more  fortunate  ;  he  was  better  informed 
as  to  the  right  way  of  approach,  and  in  this  expedition, 
which  was  his  second,  he  succeeded  in  climbing  Mount 
Wilhelmina,  and  visited  the  English  camp  at  Wakatimi 
on  his  way  back.  He  had  fallen  down  a  cliff  on  his 
return,  with  the  result  of  two  broken  ribs  and  serious 
concussion  of  the  brain,  and  he  had  endured  untold 
sufferings  before  he  reached  the  foot  of  the  mountain. 
But  it  is  evident  that  the  Englishmen  envied  him. 
'  He  had  achieved  the  principal  object  of  his  expedi- 
tion,' says  Wollaston,  '  and  his  spirits  were  in  better 
condition  than  his  body.' 

After  this,  from  April  to  December,  the  British 
expedition  had  a  hard  and  disappointing  time  of  it, 
jungle-bound  and  struggling  continually  with  bad 
weather,  floods,  and  sickness.  The  Malay  coolies 
suffered  fearfully,  and  became  quite  incompetent  as 
carriers.  One  day  one  of  them,  who  was  down  with 
fever,  suddenly  went  mad  and  knifed  another ;  but 
the  victim  happily  recovered.  A  much  worse  affair 
took  place  between  a  coolie  and  one  of  the  Javanese 
of  the  Dutch  escort,  who  were  mostly  convicts  released 
for  service  with  the  British  expedition.  '  These  two 
men  quarrelled  one  morning  about  some  trifle  connected 
with  their  food,  and  before  anybody  knew  what  was 
amiss,  knives  were  out  and  one  of  them  was  chasing 
the  other  through  the  camp.  By  a  clever  backward 
thrust  the  pursued  man  dealt  the  pursuer  a  deep 
wound  under  the  heart ;  but  he  was  unable  to  escape 
before  the  pursuer  had  given  him  too  a  mortal  wound. 


ALEXANDER  WOLLASTON  309 

One  died  in  a  few  minutes,  and  the  other  during  the 
course  of  the  day,  fortunately  perhaps  for  both  of  them.' 
On  another  occasion  one  of  the  Javanese  soldiers,  also 
ill  with  fever,  suddenly  stabbed  another  man  while  in 
the  ship  off  the  coast,  and  then  threw  himself  over- 
board into  the  sea.  But  the  plunge  cooled  his  fury, 
and  his  cure  was  completed  by  the  sight  of  a  sea-snake 
swimming  not  far  from  him.  These  sea-snakes  are 
big  yellow  creatures  with  dark  markings  ;  they  are 
three  or  four  feet  in  length,  and  as  they  travel  in  large 
numbers  together,  and  have  the  reputation  of  even 
climbing  up  the  sides  of  ships,  the  Javanese  had  some 
reason  for  his  terror.  He  swam  hastily  back,  and  was 
glad  to  be  taken  on  board  again. 

The  Gurkhas,  of  course,  were  much  better  and  more 
useful  men.  When  the  expedition  was  moving  inland 
and  the  almost  impassable  river  Iwaka  had  to  be 
crossed,  three  of  them  showed  really  remarkable  skill 
and  courage.  All  attempts  to  bridge  the  torrent  having 
proved  futile,  a  reward  was  offered  to  the  first  man 
across.  Two  Gurkhas  thereupon  sallied  forth  with 
axes,  and  succeeded  in  felling  a  tree  so  cleverly  that 
it  just  reached  the  other  bank  and  held  there.  Before 
nightfall  they  had  crossed  on  this  shaky  bridge  and 
made  fast  a  rope  of  rattan  from  side  to  side  of  the 
river,  as  a  basis  for  real  bridge  building  next  day. 
But  during  the  night  the  river  rose  and  swept  the  tree 
away  ;  only  the  rattan  rope  remained,  and  at  first 
it  seemed  impossible  for  anyone  to  cross  by  so  slender 
a  means,  even  for  the  large  reward  which  was  again 
offered.  Then  a  Gurkha  named  Jangbir  said  he  would 
go.  What  he  had  to  do  was  to  drag  himself  hand  over 
hand  along  the  rope,  with  the  torrent  tugging  at  his 


310    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

legs  all  the  time.  In  case  the  rope  should  snap,  a 
second  rattan  was  made  fast  round  his  waist,  to  give 
his  companions  a  bare  chance  of  being  able  to  haul 
him  back  to  shore  ;  but  this  rattan  had  to  be  thin,  or 
its  weight  would  have  been  too  much  for  him  when  he 
got  far  out.  He  started  finely,  and  though  the  torrent 
dragged  him  out  full  length,  he  got  nearly  across ; 
but  then  his  strength  began  to  fail.  The  danger  was 
that  the  rope  would  break,  or  that  he  would  fall  from 
it,  and  the  strain  then  snap  the  rattan  attached  to  his 
waist — it  was  by  now  sagging  down  into  the  water  in 
midstream.  The  party  on  shore  tried  to  lift  it  clear 
of  the  surface  by  hauling  on  it,  and  then  the  most 
fortunate  of  all  the  chances  happened — the  waist  line 
broke  and  came  away,  and  the  gallant  little  Gurkha, 
feeling  suddenly  lightened  by  this,  made  a  supreme 
effort  and  pulled  himself  the  rest  of  the  way  to  the 
further  bank.  Other  ropes  were  then  thrown  over 
and  secured,  and  a  rattan  bridge  of  100  feet  span  was 
completed  by  which  the  whole  party  crossed.  The 
whole  idea  and  most  of  the  work  was  due  to  the 
Gurkhas. 

On  the  high  ground  beyond  the  Iwaka  the  explorers 
found  really  beautiful  scenery,  and  after  the  Gurkhas 
had  for  four  days  cut  a  path  through  trees  and 
scented  scrub  they  gained  a  ridge  5,800  feet  high,  from 
which  a  superb  view  could  be  seen.  There  before  them 
rose  Mount  Godman  and  Wataikwa  Mountain  ;  between 
and  beyond  these,  the  tremendous  cliffs  of  Mount 
Leonard  Darwin,  13,882  feet  in  height,  of  which  10,000 
feet  is  an  almost  vertical  precipice  ;  to  the  west  the 
Charles  Louis  range;  to  the  east  the  Cock's  Comb, 
behind  which  banks  of  cloud  hid  the  summit  of  Mount 


'  They  had  crossed  on  this  shaky  bridge.' 


312    THE  BOOK  OF  THE  LONG  TRAIL 

Carstensz.  Below  them  lay  innumerable  rivers,*glitter- 
ing  in  the  sun,  among  them  the  four  which  they  had 
crossed  with  so  much  labour,  the  Tuaba,  Kamura, 
Wataikwa  and  Iwaka.  '  During  the  following  days,' 
says  WoUaston,  '  while  we  were  stumbling  back  to 
Parimau,  along  the  now  familiar  track,  we  wondered 
whether  we  should  be  the  last  as  well  as  the  first 
Europeans  to  penetrate  into  that  forsaken  region.  It 
has  been  mapped  now,  and  our  wanderings  have  shown 
that  it  is  not  the  way  by  which  any  sane  person  would 
^o  who  wished  to  explore  the  Snow  Mountains.  It  is 
a  region  absolutely  without  inhabitants,  and  the 
Papuans  who  live  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Mimika 
and  Kamura  rivers  shun  it  even  as  a  hunting-ground. 
There  are  no  precious  metals  to  be  won,  and  not  until 
all  the  other  forests  in  the  world  are  cut  down  will  its 
timber  be  of  value.  So  it  may  safely  be  supposed  that 
it  will  long  be  left  untouched ;  the  Birds  of  Paradise 
will  call  by  day,  the  cassowaries  will  boom  by  night, 
and  the  leeches  will  stretch  themselves  anxiously  on 
their  leaves,  but  it  will  be  a  long  time  before  another 
white  man  comes  to  disturb  them.' 


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Colchester,  London  *■  Eton,  England 


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